


Chapstick Challenge

by jyaniseos



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: College!AU, Crack, Drinking, Fluff, Kun gets lines here, M/M, Pls idk how to tag, Pls ignore any potholes in the plot pls ;(;, Sexual Jokes, Slow Burn, Too much cursing, a lot of chapstick, cursing, does this count as slow burn, everyone is gay !, gay Agenda thrives here too, johnny is a fluff ball with glasses, just know OOF, perhaps a TEENY TINY bit if angst but uh, perhaps some angst, prolly some trashy ass writing, ten is short but sassy, there is no het activity allowed, there’s a bro alliance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-24
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2019-06-29 21:43:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 29,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15737907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jyaniseos/pseuds/jyaniseos
Summary: “Tell you what, if you can guess what chapstick I’m wearing for a whole a month, we can date.”Or,Johnny gets to kiss Ten everyday for a month.





	1. sweet.

Johnny knew he would never have him. Someone like Ten, well known, pretty, Johnny could go on honestly, would never bother to be with someone like Johnny. Johnny just wasn’t his type. And Johnny knew that better than his own name but that wasn’t enough to stop him from falling for him. Besides, even if Johnny was his type, there would always be someone better. It wasn’t just Johnny on the Ten train, as his friends called it, it felt like the entirety of their school was head over heels for Ten. Ten was kind, had good grades, threw nice parties (not that Johnny’s ever been since it was invitation only), he dressed nice, the list was endless.

 

What was there not to like about Ten? He couldn’t find anyone who’d be able to give him an answer. Even he people who ‘hate’ him just for the sole purpose of being edgy don’t have a reason. Ten was perfect… and Johnny was not. He was lanky, sure he had muscle on him but with the way he prefers to dress, you wouldn’t think so. He had acne still, he wore glasses, and sometimes his voice cracks. He used to think all these ‘flaws’ were okay but after hearing that he’s just a waste of space so many times, he couldn’t bother to think highly of himself anymore.

Confidence had always been his problem anyways. His friends always tried to convince him that he’s not as bad as he makes himself out to be but to no avail. The only he’d ever think he’s worth it is if the one person who wants attention from gives it to him. Johnny hated the spotlight, he hated being the center of attention. He was always noticeable because of his height (he was a 5’6 13 year old at one point while everyone was stuck at 4’11) and from there, it just got frustrating to him when people look at him. Thank God when he got to college, all that changed. No one did as much as spare him a glance by the second semester of their first year.

 

Now in his second year, he’s realized there’s nothing different about college from high school. It’s just the same, if not worse. Moving from high school to college was glorified as one of the hardest things someone could ever do in their life but Johnny had more than pleasure leaving high school. Things were different back then but one thing that’s stayed the same that he’s grateful for, are his friends.

 

His best friends, Mark, Jaehyun and Doyoung, haven’t left since Johnny came to know them. Jaehyun and Doyoung, he’s known since middle school. Those two watched him grow up, or maybe he watched them grow up (you know, since he’s older.) Their personalities were quite different and they grew up with people questioning how they could possibly be friends. They didn’t pay any mind to it at all, charging through life till this moment as friends. They did have a pact where it would just be them three for all of eternity, it lasted three years, then Johnny met Mark during a babysitting gig. Johnny had babysitted a couple times before Mark, but he had no doubts that it would be easy since Mark was 15 at the time. He did question why a 15 year old needed to be babysat but he shut up, because if he declined it, he’d be questioning why he didn’t have $500 in his pocket.

 

Him and Mark bonded really well the four hours they were left alone at Mark’s _large_ house. Johnny didn’t expect much from Mark, except for him to be like him when he was 15, annoying and rude. When he wasn’t, Johnny was internally thankful. He wasn’t sure why he thought a four year age difference would be so much to him but he underestimated how mature Mark would be. They were exactly the same. Johnny enjoyed Mark’s presence and vice versa, hence they became friends. Six months later, on Mark’s 16th birthday, Johnny was invited to his party and he brought Jaehyun and Doyoung along. The rest is history.

 

So they renewed that pact, the four of them for eternity. No petty arguments, no secrets, no girls (or boys), no moving without at least 5 bro hangouts. The pact was left unbroken for another year, then Mark broke it. He broke it when he confessed to them all that he had a crush on an exchange student in his class named that had three names. They would’ve been mad for longer than three seconds, but thanks to Doyoung’s quick wit, they realized they could use this new information to tease Mark. When Johnny discovered how to make a ship name, Mark nearly went three not shot without being referred to by his actual name (Wong Mark, Huang Mark, Markhei, Marcus, the list was infinite.)

 

Then they slipped up. They called Mark ‘Markhei’ in front of the ‘Hei’ part of the name, the one time Mark had enough courage to ask the older to sit with them at lunch. It wasn’t bad though, when Yukhei asked what it meant and the three tried to cover up their tracks at the same time as Mark confessed. Of course, Yukhei heard Mark over the others. That day, Johnny, Jaehyun, and Doyoung witnessed Mark ask out his first boyfriend. Now when Mark tries to call them out on that moment, they retaliate by pulling up the (millions of) receipts they have of Mark fanboying over his still boyfriend.

The pact broke again, since Yukhei became apart of their crew. It would’ve seemed awkward, since there’s a couple in the crew now but honestly, it was almost like Mark and Yukhei weren’t together. You’d think they were best friends, yeah they were touchy, but they never kissed and their couple names were insulting things like Buttface and Ass Chewer (to this day they won’t let it go and Yukhei is Ass Chewer in all of their phones.) So maybe the pact didn’t _really_ break, but they tweaked it nonetheless. No petty arguments, no secrets, no moving with at least 5 bro hangouts, and no matter what, stay bros forever. So now, you could be a bro with a significant other.

 

Johnny didn’t have to worry about breaking it. His first and only girlfriend was in 7th grade, and their first and second dates were enough to turn him gay for the rest of life. He does find girls attractive still but he’d never date one again. Everyone knows he’s gay, because luckily at this campus, the principal is gay and majority of the staff was gay too, and not many straight people went here. It was a Grade Gay School. People lusted over him regardless but he wasn’t looking for a relationship then. He still isn’t. Maybe...he is. He’s not sure, does daydreaming about what it would be like to take Ten on a nice date count as wanting a relationship?

 

Johnny didn’t want to think about it. He’s never really had it it this bad before. There wasn’t anyone he could ask, sure his friends tease his very being when Ten is in the vicinity but he knows he can trust them to be serious when he needs them to be. It’s just harder now, yet he doesn’t know why. 


	2. bitter.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> please im just posting the chapters as i write them he endings are trash psle

“Johnny, you’re staring.” Mark sighs, playing around with his fork. “Lovesick.”

 

“I’m not staring and I’m not lovesick.” Johnny mutters, knowing damn well he was in fact staring. He turns his head from Ten’s table, turning to Doyoung. The boy sat with his face buried in a book. Anyone who knew Doyoung knew that he was a straight A student, Vice President of the Honor Society. He was always studying and he seemed to enjoy it a lot but even the things you enjoy can be too much at some times.

 

“Do?” He says, and when he doesn’t budge, Johnny tries again. “Hey.” He shakes the boy and his head slams against the table, resulting in him to shoot up. He was asleep.

 

“I’m ok!” Doyoung shouts, attracting the attention of nearby tables. “Sorry.” Looking down at his book, he closes it slowly and sets it on his lap.

 

Jaehyun lets out a tiny chuckle, resting his head on his palm, “Rise and shine, sleepyhead.” His tone is teasing and Doyoung raises a fist at him threateningly.

 

“I wasn’t asleep, a man can’t just close his eyes?”

 

“For fifteen minutes? At lunch? Sure, why not.” Yukhei pipes in, eyes focused on Mark’s hand instead of Doyoung.

 

“Shut up.” Doyoung fixes his hair softly. “Anyways! What’s on the gay agenda for today, fellas?” 

 

“Day 32467 of Johnny hopelessly pining over Ten.” Jaehyun mumbles and Johnny shoots a glare towards the younger. 

 

Johnny doesn’t know why they continue to bother him about Ten. It’s just a crush… he side eyes them while removing a piece of gum from his pocket. He watches his friends’ faces change. 

 

“Lemme get one.” Yukhei smirks, raising his eyebrows suggestively. 

 

“Fuck no.” A scowl crosses Johnny’s face. 

 

“How about me?”

 

”Fuck no,” Johnny stands up, “to all of you.” 

 

His friends glance at each other and eerily turn their heads to Johnny. His eyes widen when Mark shouts, “Book him, boys!” In a split second, four bodies lunge at him. He’s not even sure how he made it away, but he flips his body and zooms through the lunch tables. He completely ignores the glares that land on him as he runs. It’s one against four, their advantage is that they can split and strip him of everything he’s got. He’s a man on the run. 

 

He looks to his left where Yukhei and Doyoung stand, Yukhei nearly standing on top of a empty table. He looks to his right and it’s just Jaehyun, which means Mark is behin–

 

“Oof!” Johnny yells with a loud thud, Mark’s weight pushing on top of him. 

 

“Give up the fucking gum, whore!” Mark screeches in his highest voice, right into Johnny’s ear drum. “Hurry while I got him!”

 

Johnny flings his arm back to by Mark and hen places them flat on the floor to push himself up. He gets up to his feet while Mark holds tighter than anything around him. Johnny flails back, landing on a table, which was thankfully empty. 

 

Mark let’s out a pained groan, “Soldiers…I’m over with.” He heaves and Johnny spares him a single glance. Yukhei runs to him, falling to his knee

 

”Mark! No!” He cries aloud. Johnny salutes to the fallen couple, realizing he’s still got Jaehyun and Doyoung on him. The two corner him slowly. Johnny walks backwards with his hands in front of him. 

 

“Guys, let’s just work this out.”

 

“Give us the gum.” Jaehyun deadpans, pulling up the sleeves of his hoodie. 

 

Johnny’s eyes switch between the two, analyzing what to do. They were coming in from left and right, leaving Johnny to dart forward and make a run for the exit doors. He licks his lips and goes through with the plan, his long legs taking strides through the cafeteria. _Almost there! Almost there! Almo–_

 

He trips over something and his joy turns to despair as he makes out with the floor. Too embarrassed to look up, he just lays there, rethinking every life choice he made to live up to this moment. He hears the cafeteria go completely silent, then the slow steps of foot coming towards him. He waits to feel one of his friends help him up so he looks up slowly. 

 

The  shoes aren’t Jaehyun’s beat up Adidas, Yukhei’s slides, Mark’s New Balances, or Doyoung’s Gucci sneakers. They’re black converse with white socks that have black stars. Ten likes stars… oh _hell_ no. Johnny closes his eyes and prays to God that his crush isn’t witnessing him make a fool of himself. 

 

“Is it fun down there, sweetie?” Ten’s smooth honey voice flows out in Johnny’s ear. 

 

“Fuck.” He whispers to himself, scrunching his face. He hasn’t disappeared yet so there’s no other option except to stand up and face him. He climbs to his feet slowly, dusting his black long sleeve off. He looks down at Ten, who is standing with an amused look at him. “Sorry about that? Did I hurt you?”

 

”It only hurt me to see you be on that floor so long. You know how dirty it is?” Ten says, his voice void of any rude tone. Instead, he sounds amused and his face holds an amazed smile. His hands rest on his hips. 

 

“I do now, I probably just caught 60 diseases.” Johnny mutters quietly. Ten busts into laughter, Johnny‘s mouth goes slack. Did he just make Ten laugh? He’d be thinking about this for days. 

 

“That’s tough, you should see a doctor.” Ten chuckles. 

 

Johnny smiles softly, “Yeah, matter of in fact, I should take a shower.” 

 

“Good idea. Well then, see you later…” Ten drags on. He doesn’t know his name. 

 

“It’s Johnny.” 

 

“See you later, Johnny.” Ten turns on his heels and walks off. 

 

Johnny pulls the hem of his sleeve nervously, “Bye.” His voice gives out on him, and it’s now he realizes how fast his heart had been beating. He’s frozen in place that he doesn’t even realize the Dean calling his name out. He could be getting in trouble but that doesn’t matter. 

 

“He knows my name!” He squeals like a little child. 

 

“Mr. Seo, we all know your name. Do _you_ know your own name, I called you nearly six times!” The Dean grabs his arm. 

 

“Sorry.” He might be in trouble, but for now, all he’ll be thinking about is how he made Ten _laugh_.


	3. sweet.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On e again i can’t end a chapter for SHIT anyways enjoy

“You guys can’t say I’m unfunny anymore.”

 

“Give it a rest, Johnny! We know you made him laugh but that doesn’t mean he’s gonna suck your cock.” Yukhei grunts and the others make agreeing noises. Johnny frowns and runs a hand through his hair.

 

“Fine then, my humor will be appreciated _elsewhere_.” Johnny packs up his things, “I’ll be studying in the library if you need me.” He states sassily, exiting from Mark’s dorm. He hurried through the oceans of by standing students in the outdoor walkway to the library. Thank God it’s a short walk. When he arrives, not many people are in there. He takes a seat in the farthest corner of the library.

 

He sets his laptop down on the wooden table, unlocking it. There was nothing in particular he had to study, since there wasn’t any tests but he felt as if it would be good to have things in his brain. Especially after what happened the other day, he needed this. He reaches in his bag, hoping he had some textbook in there. Maybe science, or math, oh he might have hi–

Someone sits in the seat next to him. Johnny pauses, turning his head cautiously. Ten sits beside him, head propped on his palm and a smile on his face. “Hi, Johnny.”

 

“Oh, hey Ten.” Johnny says slowly.

 

“Studying?”

 

“Yeah.” Johnny nods and licks his lips, waiting for the awkwardness to pass. He looks down at his lap.

 

“Your momma never taught to look at who you’re talking to?” Ten speaks so nicely, Johnny doesn’t know his ears haven’t melted off by how smooth his voice is. He looks up at Ten. “Better. Do you have a test coming up?”

 

“No. I just came here as an effort to ditch my friends. They were shitting on my parade.” Johnny laughs shortly and Ten follows suit.

 

“So you’re not actually going to study.”

 

“No.” It gets silent again, Johnny averting his gaze. He wanted to stare at Ten so bad but it’d be better if he didn’t. He’s become aware of how obvious he is.

 

“You’re so tense, Johnny. Loosen up,” Ten punches his arm playfully and when Johnny turns to face him, they’re much closer than they were before, “Do I make you uncomfortable?” Ten furrows his eyebrows.

 

Johnny can’t help but look at his lips for a brief second, then back up at his eyes. “Well you make my heart go cue drum noise.”

 

“What?” Ten laughs.

 

“Is now a bad time to confess that I like you?”

 

Ten smiles even wider, “Not at all. I actually knew for a while.” Ten means back into the chair, crossing his leg over the other.

 

“What the fuck?” Johnny chokes on his spit. The librarian appears from the bookshelf with an upset expression. “Sorry ma’am.” He turns his whole body to Ten, “you said _what_?”

 

“You’re not as subtle as you think, sweetheart. I’ve known for so long but why tell you what you already know?”

 

“Oh my fucking gosh. I’m so sorry.” Johnny blushes and covers his face in his hands.

 

“It’s okay. Also, your friends gossip about you liking me. What was it about wanting to kiss me till all I tasted was you?” Johnny wants to throw up at how nonchalant the sentence sounds coming out of Ten’s mouth. It felt surreal, and all he wanted to do was strangle the living _fuck_ out of his friends right now.

 

Johnny scratches his neck, “About that…”

 

“It’s okay, I’ve heard worse. You know, Johnny, I like you too. You’re a good guy, very kind. I don’t see that all the time, people just like me for because I’m popular or they want to get in my pants. It’s refreshing that someone genuinely likes me.” Ten whispers, face near Johnny’s.

 

“Really? That’s… that’s sad.”

 

“I know.” Ten sighs. “Do you actually wanna kiss me?”

 

Johnny’s mouth goes dry. Before thinking, he slaps himself. When the pain throbs in his cheek, he knows it isn’t a dream. He winces and a sharp gasp leaves his throat when Ten touches his cheek, “Johnny, you good?”

 

“I’m like extravagant.”

 

Ten laughs, “Okay so answer my question.”

 

“Kiss you? Like right now? I will not lie, fuck yeah.” Johnny sputters out, palms sweaty. Ten laughs.

 

“Tell you what? I’ll give you something better.”

 

“Should I be scared?” Johnny widens his eyes.

 

Ten slaps his thigh. “No!” He whisper shouts. “Today is October 26th. Starting November 1st, you can kiss me everyday. Only thing is, I’ll be wearing a different chapstick everyday. If you can guess 15 out of 30 days, we’ll date at the end.”

 

Johnny couldn’t believe his ears. Sure it was a weird to ask someone out (if you could even call it that,) but Johnny couldn’t see himself denying this request. He’s speechless to say the least. He stares at Ten and his ears burn hot like hell fire with embarrassment.

 

“Yeah, of course. Sounds good. I like that. Very cool.” Johnny spews, covering his mouth with his hands. _You talk too damn much._

 

“You’re so cute.”

 

Johnny blushes and tilts his head to the side, “Thank you. Can I kiss you now?” Johnny wants to punch himself in the balls at 70 mph. _What the fuck is wrong with him right now?_ “Sorr–” Ten leans in and captures his lips before he can finish talking. His eyes flutter close and his hands rest on Ten’s knee, while Ten holds his cheek. Johnny tastes a small hint of coconut, it’s almost addictive.

 

Johnny doesn’t want this to end at all. He wouldn’t be able to function without it, he just can’t see it. He’s dreamt of this moment for so long but now he’s not dreaming; this is fucking real. He’s kissing his crush, he’s kissing the Ten. He can’t believe this. When Ten pulls away, Johnny resists the urge to lean in and just pouts softly. Ten wipes his lip with his thumb, a dazed smile on his face.

 

“You’re a good kisser, Johnny. Suddenly, I can’t wait for November.” Ten laughs and Johnny just licks his lips, still feeling the lasting effects. His lips tingle. Ten leans forward and caresses his cheek. “You good? You want more kissies?” Ten coos and Johnny would normally scowl at baby talk, but hearing it from Ten made him feel all warm and giggly inside. He simply grunts when Ten pinches his cheek.

 

“Argh.” Johnny really couldn’t believe this. He had always dreamed of him doing this to Ten, it feels so fake like he’s asleep. He side eyes Ten’s hand on his cheek still. Then, Ten’s phone dings. Too quickly, he pulls away to check it.

 

“My whores rang for me so I have to go, see you around?” Ten stands up and Johnny just nods.

 

“Y–Yeah.”

Ten leans down to kiss his cheek and skips away form Johnny’s view. Johnny feels a single tear fall down his cheek and onto his jeans. He wipes his eyes and looks up to the ceiling.

 

“I wanna say thank you not only to God but to Jesus.”


	4. sweet.

 

 

All their mouths were open, they couldn’t believe what they were hearing. Johnny just nods with pursed lips, hands clasped in between his legs. He begins to say something but Jaehyun shushes him, dismissing what he was gonna say. 

 

“Let us just…process this.” He closes his eyes, eyebrows furrowed. He presss two fingers from each hand on both sides of his temple, as if he’s got a headache. 

 

Doyoung leans forward, “Lemme get this clear,” he presses his finger on the corner of Johnny’s lip like it’s slime, “Ten kissed you? These lips touched Ten’s? You’re blowing me dude.”

 

”Soon, Ten’s gonna be blowing Johnny.” Mark snorts and Johnny raises a threatening fist. “Oof, don’t hit me I’m a minor!”

 

”You’re a grown man, grow some balls.” Johnny snickers mockingly and Mark mocks him back. Johnny sighs and leans back into the couch. “Anyways, yeah. Me and Ten kissed, so what?”

 

”Give him a sec.” Yukhei says while looking at his phone. Johnny begins to hyperventilate and soon he’s screaming into the nearest pillow he can find. “There it is.”

 

Johnny still couldn’t believe it. As sad as it is to admit, he had practiced. Maybe making out with his dormitory wall wasn’t the best way to practice but that’s out the park now. He gets to experience the real thing for real now. He can’t even think. Wait… he still needs to practice. He needs to fucking practice tasting chapsticks. 

 

“Soldiers, we need to buy chapsticks!” He hurries up and grabs his keys. 

 

“Wait why?” His friends turn in unison. 

 

Johnny has his hand on the doorknob, “Ten told me we could date if I got the chapstick he was wearing correct for a whole month, starting November 1st.” He rushes the words out with no stumbling. 

 

Almosr immediately, his friends rise to their feet and march out. “Alright troops, time to roll out!”

 

***

 

”We shoulda fucking thought of that before we drove 3 miles to the Super Walmart.” JAehyun slams his head against the compartment in front of him. The car fills with groans of dissapointment. “We all have a serious case of dumbass-itis.”

 

”I got three pennies to my name?” Yukhei tries. Mark side eyes him. “What? You hoes don’t even have one, whose the ballin bitch here?”

 

”Can you buy an Oreo bar?” Doyoung turns to him. 

 

Yukhei begins to twist his hair in his hand, “you see…what had happened wa–“

 

”Exactly, now shut up you broke ass bitch.” Doyoung scoffs and faces the window again. Johnny sighs sadly, peeking into his wallet again. How could he have forgotten to bring the most essential thing? He looks each fold and crevice, but just one dollar bill. That wouldn’t be him _shit_ in this economy. Especially some overpriced 3 for $5 chapstick. He looks again, praying he’ll something more. Then, his prayer is answered. His thick finger slides over a folded up $20. 

 

“Fellas!” He happily turns to the back seat with the money between his two fingers. 

 

“This is enough for like…20 tubes of chapstick?” Doyoung nods to his question. 

 

“Never did I think we’d spend $20 on some chapstick.” Mark mutters, with crossed arms. 

 

“We’ve spent over $100 on extra time at the children’s place.” Yukhei runs his hand down Mark’s side. 

 

“Maybe you’re right. Anyways, here’s the plan. We buy this chapstick and we get back to the apartment. We blindfold your ass and test on these shits. Sound good?” Doyoung explains, hand motions, leaning forward so the whole gang could hear him clearly. The car fills with approving hums.

 

”Now let’s get out, I have my show coming on at 9:45.” 

 

***

 

”Ten had on coconut chapstick!” Johnny argues while holding the coconut and blueberry flavored chapsticks in both hands.

 

”Ten had on coconut flavor, not dumbass flavor, why the hell would he wear it again if you already know it? This is waste of the little money we have.” Doyoung taps his forehead repeatedly as if to tell Johnny to get it through his thick skull. 

 

“I think we should get some exotic flavors an basic flavors.” Johnny suggests. 

 

“Good idea, I always see Ten using a shit ton of different chapsticks. His lips are never chapped, it’s fucking crazy.” Jaehyun laughs. “I think once he dropped this…uh…candy cane flavored one. Another time he dropped this cake batter bullshit, I don’t fucking know but he’s into this exotic bullshit.” 

 

“Wonder what other exotic things he’s into.” Yukhei nudges Johnny playfully but Johnny turns with wide eyes.

 

”Do you wanna keep talking or do you wanna keep your kneecaps?” Johnny raises a fist towards the male of same height, who stupidly hides behind Mark, who’s a whole foot shorter than them all. “Exactly you little bitch. Anyways, we should get this one. Coconut, candy cane…key lime? Grape!” 

 

Johnny could say they spent only an hour at the store, searching for chapsticks but he’d be lying. They were until the minutes before closing, narrowly escaping getting yelled at by annoyed employees. Only 13 chapsticks were bought, Johnny deciding to find the rest somewhere else. He was excited for this, he’d win this. Ten was the prize, he was more than a prize but Johnny couldn’t put it into words. He’d continue daydreaming but he couldn’t drown out Doyoung scolding them for taking so long in the store that he missed his show. 

 

“We get it! I watched it last week, Jinhyun cheats on Minhee with her teacher!” Jaehyun screeches. The car goes silent with shock, all of them looking to Jaehyun. 

 

“You fucking bi–” Doyoung grabs Jaehyun’s hair and pulls him back, clawing his neck. Johnny tries his best to calm the two down,  Mark and Yukhei too, but he can’t do much as he’s the one behind the wheel. He slaps Doyoung’s wrist that was digging into Jaehyun’s neck with his hand. He had to keep his eyes on the road and his hand(s) on the wheel. 

 

Johnny tries to pull over and at this point, Jaehyun is nearly in tears, Yukhei is bent over the seat trying to pull Jaehyun away by his jacket on the other side, and Mark trying to calm Doyoung down. “I’m s–sorry!” Jaehyun screams and Johnny finally finds a spot on the road to park, pushing Doyoung back. 

 

“Are you fucking _crazy_?” He yells. Then he turns to Jaehyun. “Are _you_ fucking crazy?”

 

Doyoung pouts and crosses his arms, while Jaehyun caresses his neck. Thank God Doyoung doesn’t let his nails grow out (they’re still healthy don’t worry.) “Apolo– _fucking_ -gize! I can’t believe you guys, are you out of your fucking _minds_! We coulda died because of you two! Jaehyun, why would your dumb ass spoil his show! You know better! Doyoung, why would your stupid ass attack him! You could’ve just waited till we got out the fucking car to fight him, he wasn’t prepared!” 

 

“Bitch _what_?” Jaehyun furrows his eyebrows. 

 

“That would have been more fair.” Mark and Yukhei say in unison. 

 

“You want us to fight?” Doyoung asks. 

 

“No, no! That’s not what I said, I mean at least warn him, like a ‘Hey, Jaehyun, when we get our this car, I’m gonna beat your ass’? Like that?” 

 

“Mayhaps.” Doyoung says sarcastically. 

 

“And also, I didn’t hear any apologies.” 

 

“Sorry.” Doyoung and Jaehyun say dryly in unison. 

 

“Now when we get home, imma need y’all to make the fuck up.” 

 

“What? Why!”

 

”Because I fucking said so!”

 

”Put em in the same room and lock em from the outside.” Yukhei says.

 

”Keep em in there for 15 minuets and they’ll be eating each other’s asses.” Mark snickers and Doyoung seethes. 

 

“Keep me in this car with you for _five more minutes_ and I’ll have my _foot_ up your ass.”

 

 

 

 


	5. sweet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pls tell me if this is making sense just lmk

Johnny couldn’t see. He could not see one clear thing. He was sitting on a chair, hands on his thighs, looking around and waiting for instructions. Doyoung had forced him to take his contacts out and wouldn’t let him put on his glasses, just for the sake of practicing chapstick flavors. “Can we start?”

“How many fingers am I holding?”

“We’ve been over this, I can see it, but it’s blurry!” Johnny scowls to Yukhei’s direction, who looks like a big blob of red because of the hoodie he has on. “Let’s get moving, fellas. I have homework.”

“Who does homework in this age?” Mark laughs. “Loser.”

“Shut the fuck up, Mark.” Doyoung hisses and turns to caress Johnny’s cheek with an adoring smile on his face. “Back to business, we are going to help you get your man. I’ll put the chapstick on you, get a feel for it, taste it, smell it, all that. Guess and if you get it right, keep it. If you don’t, I’ll tell you what it is and we’ll go back to it later. We have about 35 chapsticks in here so this…might take a while.”

“I don’t care, I’m ready!” Johnny licks his lips and prepares for the first tube.

“Alright, here goes.” Doyoung presses the flavored wax against his lips slowly. The smell is sweet and familiar. Doyoung pulls it away and the small sound of him capping it closed sounds in his eyes. He closes his eyes tight, trying to focus on just the taste. His tongue darts out to see what it might be.

“Give me another dose.” Doyoung hums in response and rubs the chapstick on his lips one more time. Johnny knows this flavor, it’s on the back of his tongue. It reminds him of when he went to the beach with his friends and they had a drink bar, with straw–

 

“Strawberry!” He shouts.

 

”Took you long enough. Next one.” Doyoung wipes his lips off with a tissue to rid him of the residue so that it doesn’t mess with his senses. Johnny recognizes the taste so quickly that Doyoung barely even finishes putting it on him. 

 

“This is coconut.” 

 

“How’d you–”

 

”I told you we should have blindfolded him!” Jaehyun says and Johnny glares in his direction. 

 

“No, this is the flavor Ten was wearing when we kissed in the library. Moving on, next one.” Doyoung sighs and repeats what’s been doing the past two. Johnny was ready to do this, he was gonna win. He was going to make Ten his.

 

***

 

They spent two hours doing that but Johnny wasn’t mad. He knew this was going to be a task that required to put in work. He had gotten 13/35 right on the first try which isn’t bad, considering that Johnny doesn’t even like flavored chapstick. Well,, that’s a thing of the past.

 

He had his glasses on since he didn’t feel like putting in his contacts, ready to go out and go do homework at the local cafe. He was going alone, since Mark and Yukhei had ‘couple things’ (meaning them forcing each other to risk going to jail by doing stupid shit) and Doyoung and Jaehyun had already scheduled to hang out. Johnny wasn’t complaining, he could rarely ever get work done around them, except Doyoung. 

 

When he got to the cafe, it was as empty as it always is. Bright, modern interior with at most 10 people inside. He sat down in the back and set his backpack beside him, pulling out his science book. He hated science but enjoyed doing the work. Weird, right? 

 

“I didn’t know you had glasses.” Johnny looks up at Ten, who had appeared in front of him. He was clad in a Nike hat and a bomber jacket, in his beauty that Johnny couldn’t get enough of. He gasped quietly. Ten smiles and slides in the booth seat in front of him. “Hey.” 

 

“Hi, Ten.” He says breathlessly. 

 

“Don’t pass out on me now, Johnny.” Ten just laughs at Johnny’s obviously shocked demeanor. Johnny wipes his eyes and ruffles his hair. 

 

“I won’t. Sorry.”

 

”Homework again?” 

 

“I’ve got nothing better to do.” Johnny sighs, but he wasn’t annoyed or anything. He looks away from Ten. 

 

“Do you think I’m ugly?” Ten asks suddenly and Johnny chokes on his spit. He looks at Ten with wide eyes. Ten wasn’t ugly at all, if anything he was the prettiest thing Johnny had ever laid his eyes on. Johnny couldn’t even fathom anything prettier than Ten. He wishes he take a picture of Ten but even that picture wouldn’t do him any justice. It wouldn’t capture his beautifully long eyelashes, or the perfect curve of his pointy nose or the pink of his lips. It wouldn’t do him right at all. “Am I?” Johnny realizes he hadn’t said a word of anything he just thought, he was just frozen in front of Ten. 

 

“N-no you’re not. You’re very pretty, Ten.” Johnny blushes as he says it, hiding his face in his hands. Ten laughs quietly. 

 

“You’re such a big cutie. And thank you, I thought I was ugly because you can’t even look at me for more than five seconds.”

 

”That’s not true.” 

 

“Oh really, wanna bet on it?” Ten raises an eyebrow.

 

Johnny sits back and tilts his head challengingly, “Fine.” Ten taps his chin. 

 

“Look me in the eye for a minute. If you look away…you keep my name written on your cheek for the whole day. If you don’t, I’ll keep your name written on my neck or,” Ten pauses, “you can kiss me as many times as you like.” He crosses his arms on the table and leans forward on them. Johnny raises both his eyebrows surprised. 

 

Neither sounded bad, in all honesty, but Johnny didn’t want to lose. It wasn’t pride, he simply wanted to prove Ten wrong. He leans forward. “Deal.” Ten smiles and pulls out his phone. _He’s probably setting a timer_ , Johnny thinks. Ten sets his phone in between them and sure enough, it is a timer. 

 

“Ready. Set. Go.” He presses it and Johnny opens his eyes, staring into Ten’s. Ten always had such scary eyes to Johnny, except when he was smiling. They were elongated and rounded at the top, pupils big and brown. Johnny felt like he could find the answers to all his problems just by looking at Ten. “By the way, it’s not a staring contest.” Ten winks. 

 

“Isn’t that cheating?” 

 

“I didn’t look away, did I?” Ten bites his lip softly, Johnny catches it in the corner of his eyes and it takes all his willpower to not look away. Right now, a minute feels like an eternity. “You have very pretty eyes.” 

 

“Yours are prettier, like stars.” Johnny finally relaxes, not even realizing how tense he was. It’s Ten’s turn to blush, and all he does his cover his mouth. He’s obviously smiling by the way his cheeks puff up. 

 

The timer goes off, but his ringer is off so it only vibrates on the table. Yet, they don’t look away. Ten looks at Johnny’s lip for a split second, before breaking their eye contact. “I take back what I said about the kiss, I’ll make you wait till November.” Johnny pouts and leans back into the seat. “Don’t do that!”

 

”Do what?” 

 

“That pout.”

 

”Maybe I wanted to kiss.” 

 

“Too bad, baby boy. I like to tease.” Ten says smoothly and Johnny crosses his arms. “Would you like to do the honors of writing your name on my neck?” Ten fishes for a marker in his mini backpack. He hands it to Johnny. 

 

“Don’t mind if I do.” Johnny happily takes he marker and slides around the seat next to Ten.   Ten pulls his white shirt collar down just a little, to reveal his collarbone. 

 

“Write where you like.” 

 

Johnny gulps and places his hand on Ten’s neck, his large hand covering the expanse of his skin. He chooses a spot on the right side, right around his pulse. In the smoothest handwriting he can muster, he writes his fully name on him with a tiny heart. “It might smudge.” 

 

“Blow on it or something.” Johnny nods and blows cool air onto where he just wrote. He looks back at it, feeling pride, or something, swell in him. He doesn’t know why. Ten takes out his phone and opens up the camera to look at it. He snaps a couple selfies and turns his phone off, turning to face Johnny. “Cute. Shoulda wrote ‘property of johnny seo’s.’” Johnny chokes again and covers his mouth. 

 

“You’re not my property.” 

 

“I will be if you get these chapstick flavors right.” Ten winks for the nth time today. Johnny wants to pass the fuck out. “Speaking of, here’s a hint.” Ten pulls out a pomegranate flavored chapstick. 

 

“Pretty.” 

 

“Might use this one soon. Be prepared.” Ten smirks mischievously. Johnny smiles back. 

 

“Trust me,” Johnny leans forward, “I am.”


	6. sweet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here y’all update !! it’s the weekend so i MIGHT be dropping sumn tmrw too hee hee

Johnny had definitely underestimated how much time he had for this. It was November 1st, but he could’ve have sworn he was just born yesterday. Time flies by too fast. He had been in over his head, he wasn’t ready for this. He wasn’t ready at all, this was so much more serious than he had thought. Maybe if he gets them all wrong it wouldn’t matter? Maybe Ten would want to date him regardless? Forget that, there’s no way Johnny is that good of a kisser.

 

“Is he okay?” He hears Mark ask quietly.

 

“I don’t know, throw a rock.” Yukhei responds. Johnny doesn’t mind but when he hears the two rustling around the plants on the balcony, he turns his head sharply.

 

“I’m okay. Mark, shouldn’t you be in class?”

 

“Shouldn’t _you_ be in class?” Mark spits back. 

 

“I think we all have to be in class, now get up and start hauling ass!” Doyoung yells through the glass, all three of them outside turning to look at him. They sit there and Doyoung slides the glass door open, “I said haul ass!”

 

In seconds, the three march into the apartment and grab their things. Johnny could barely even think straight. His palms were  sweating like he was crying out of his hands, and his mouth is dry. He brushed his teeth for nearly ten minutes last night and this morning too, then put on plain chapstick to prepare for today. He was shaking.

 

”Johnny, calm down. It’s gonna be fine.” Jaehyun pats his back. 

 

“Oh really? That’s exaxtly what you said when we went on that rollercoaster, and then what happened?” Johnny whispers. “I will never the image of that man’s ass out of my head, you jerk!” 

 

–

 

Johnny waits quietly where Ten told him, the library. Where they had their first kiss. Johnny smiles stupidly at the memory, fiddling with his fingers. His heart was pounding loudly in his ears and the only noise that could stop it was Ten’s voice. 

 

“Hey.” Johnny sighs happily and straightens his posture as Ten walks into the vicinity.

 

”Hi.” He breathes out.

 

“You look nervous, calm down.” Ten places a soothing hand on his arm. Johnny nods, trying to steal a deep breath and calm himself but no use. He hopes his nervousness doesn’t show through their kiss. “I’ll give you three tries, _only_ three.” He holds up three fingers. 

 

“Okay.” 

 

“I’ll let you know if you got it wrong, but I won’t tell you what it is. I might bring it back.” Ten winks and smacks his lips. 

 

“Sounds fine to me. This is fair game.” 

 

Ten just laughs softly and leans in closer. Johnny doesn’t know what to do, so he just stares back into Ten’s piercing eyes. His hands fall naturally on Ten’s waist. When Ten closes his eyes, Johnny panics. _Fuck, this is really happening. Get a grip bitch! Kiss him!_ Johnny closes his eyes, preparing for their lips to collide. No contact. He opens his eyes to see Ten laughing. 

 

“What?” 

 

“Nothing, nothing. You’re just so adorable.” Ten pinches Johnny’s cheek, which switches from his regular soft tan skin color to a blazing red. He bites back a smile. 

 

“Thank yo–“ Ten kisses him. Johnny reacts as quickly as he can. He doesn’t know the flavor at all, trying his best to rack up something from his brain. He tries to relax, trying to hide how scared he is to push it overboard, but he doesn’t know how. He can only hope Ten doesn’t notice. 

 

Right now, Ten reminds him of the park, a landscape of lush greenland and flowers. He doesn’t know why, but he feels the feeling of ind brushing against him, sun on his face and the sound of children running to the ice cream truck. He remembers the last time he went to an ice truck, the exact flavor he and his friends bought. Watermelon. Watermelon, water–

“This is watermelon.” Johnny says as he pulls away. Ten’s head drops as he tries to catch his breath, the sound of their heaving breaths filling the library. “Am I right?” 

 

Ten reaches in his pocket for something. He pulls out a tube of chapstick. Johnny’s eyes widen as he reads the name. He was right. He feels more confident than he did before. He looks to meet Ten’s eyes with a smirk, crossing his arms. “Don’t get cocky, Johnny.” Ten warns with a waving finger but Johnny only shrugs. 

 

“Mark that down.” Johnny smiles. “Johnny 1, Ten 0.”

 

—

 

“It’s been ten fucking minutes.” Doyoung grunts. 

 

“Let him be.” Jaehyun answers back. 

 

“You guys are really going to let him sit there like that? He’s scaring kids!” Yukhei yanks Johnny’s hand from his lips, making the older’s smirk drop. He gasps as if he had just been brought back to life. 

 

He turns to face his friends, “What happened?”

 

”Johnny baby, I think you forgot that we’re in public, yeah?” Doyoung fakes a sickly sweet tone, tapping Johnny’s hand while his head rests on his other. 

 

“What was I doing?”

 

“You were smirking while rubbing your lips with your fingers. Mind you, kids were walking  past this pavilion and they saw see your big ass looking at nothing like that.” Mark snorts. Johnny sighs and scratches his head, muttering an apology to them all. He must’ve been in his head. 

 

School has long been done, and it’s been a while (4 hours, 47 minutes, and 12 seconds, but Johnny wasn’t counting) since the kiss. Johnny felt ridiculously confident in himself after it, his pride swelling to 1,000. A smirk subconsciously lifts onto his lips. 

 

“There he goes again!” Doyoung reaches over to tap his mouth. Johnny goes to protest, but is stopped by a frisbee whacking him in the chest.

 

”Instant caramel!” Yukhei cackles and Mark holds his chest. 

 

“No baby, it’s _karma_ , but good job.”

 

Johnny holds his stomach in his hand, groaning and doubling over in pain. “Oh my gosh, sir! Are you okay?” A high pitched voice echos over him. 

 

“My fucking guts.” 

 

“Uh, sir? Your abdominal muscles might just be sore from impact but I’m sure your ‘guts’ are fine. Maybe some hot packs to ease the pain.” Johnny looks up at him with a frustrated look, but the small boy doesn’t seem to take the hint. Johnny sighs. “You can trust me, my parents are doctors in China.” 

 

“That’s nice, what’s your name, sweet?” Mark asks intentively as Yukhei tends to Johnny. 

 

“My name is Zhong Chenle! Once again, sir I’m sorry! Here, take this.” Chenle holds out a business card, which Doyoung takes gladly. “This is a coupon for my best friend’s cousin’s uncle’s girlfriend’s cafe. It is only valid for one day but for you guys, you can get one week of free food.”

”The coupon says 50% off though?” Doyoung reads over it, Jaehyun peeking over his shoulder. 

 

“The coupon has nothing to do with what I just offered really, but I am required to give it out to whoever seems safe to drop by. I like you guys. You, sir. What is your name?” Chenle points to Johnny. 

 

“Johnny.” 

 

“Mr. Johnny sir, this is my last apology for today, but I hope to see you drop by the cafe soon. It will make me very happy to see you.” Chenle smiles and Johnny can’t help but smile back.

 

“Of course.” 

 

“That is wonderful! I have to go, I have a homework date with my friend. I hope to see you all very soon. Bye bye!” Chenle leans down to pick up the frisbee, waving goodbye to them all. 

 

“What a cute kid.” Johnny laughs softly. 

 

“I remember when I was that small.” Mark says dreamily. 

 

Jaehyun rolls his eyes, “You’re still that small.”

 

”Shut the fuck up and get your teeth straight!”

 


	7. bitter.

Johnny knew eventually they’d drop by Chenle’s best friend’s cousin’s uncle’s girlfriend’s cafe, but he had at least expected to be well put together. He himself was fine. His friends were not. Jaehyun had gotten into a dare where he had to cuss every five minutes, and if he succeeded, he’d get $500. Yukhei refuses to put on actual shoes for some reason, and now he’s wearing birkenstocks only. That wasn’t that bad till he started to dress like a tourist at Disneyland everywhere he went. Mark was just going along with it, except he wore a pair of Air Force 1s with khakis and a floral shirt with a fanny pack over it. Then Doyoung got sick. They were falling apart.

Johnny was the only one of them who still had his sanity on a good level but it was deteriorating by the second. He doesn’t know how he ended up with them all at the cafe, he could’ve just waited since he’s the one with a car but something was just telling him to come. He’d be alright.

“Sir, I don’t think you’re the fashion police, excuse you. Let me and my boyfriend live.” Mark snaps sassily. Johnny turns his head to see Mark standing defensively in front of Yukhei, arguing with someone Yukhei’s height. He facepalms. “If I want to wear sneakers with khaki shorts, who the fuck are you to stop me?”

“I’m just saying, you look like a fucking mess.” The male says back, more amused than annoyed.

“What’s going on here?” Johnny hurries over to them, trying to diffuse the ticking Mark bomb. Mark stomps his foot and slides it back like a horse, for some reason, ears burning bright red. “Mark, calm do–“

“You don’t get to talk when you have a horror movie character nose, whore!” Mark sticks his finger in the other’s face. It’s now that he loses his cool.

“Ey, get your hand outta my face and we won’t have any problems.” He slaps Mark’s hand away. Yukhei pushes Mark aside angrily.

He sizes the other up, “Who the hell do you think slapping my boyfriend’s hand like that?”

“Your little boyfriend shouldn’t have his tiny ass hands in other people’s faces. Tell him to fuck with people his height.”

“Alright, alright!” Johnny steps between the two and pushes them softly with outstretched hands, “You guys don’t know how to act in public? What’s your name?” Johnny raises an eyebrow towards the lilac haired male.

“It’s Yuta.”

“No one ever told you to leave people who dress like shit alone? It’s not you whose looking a dumbass so just leave them be.”

“Thank you! Wai– Hey!” Mark scowls. Johnny looks at him sternly.

“And you? Fuck with people your own size! We have been over this, you are not 6 foot!”

Mark pouts and stomps his Nike covered foot, “I can grow if I put my heart to it.”

“Mark please. Listen Yuta. Let’s just take a seat inside the cafe, we get free food this week so let’s share some, cool?” Yuta’s furrowed eyebrows let loose and he nods, not before sending a glare to Mark. Mark blows a raspberry while standing behind Yukhei.

The cafe owner hurries up to them with an umbrella in hand, “Hey hey hey, you guys were just fighting outside my shop! I can’t have that here!”

“Sir, it was just a misunderstanding.” Johnny tries to explain.

“Mr. Qieng, they are with me. They were not fighting at all.” Chenle’s soft voice comes from behind the balding male. “Come on.” Chenle motions them over to a booth in the back of the cafe, where Doyoung and Jaehyun had been been this whole time. Doyoung rested peacefully on Jaehyun’s shoulder, Jaehyun wide awake on his phone.

“Took you guys long enough, I almost fell asleep.”

“Sorry, somebody got into an altercation outside.” Johnny sighs dryly, obviously outing Mark (and Yukhei.)  Mark opens his mouth to speak but decides against it as he slides into the booth. “Anyways, this is Yuta. He’s going to be sitting with us.”

 

”Cool with me.” Jaehyun mumbles, trying to shake Doyoung awake; the older only whines in his sleep and snuggles closer to Jaehyun. He gives up and turns to Yuta, “you come here often?” 

 

“I’m not gonna bullshit you, I’m here because the cute cashier. Total babe, but he doesn’t talk much. I‘m starting to think he doesn’t know Korean.” Yuta’s finger points to the desk, where a short brunette sits, clad in a pastel blue buttonup with rolled up sleeves. His head rested on his hands, waiting boredly for something to happen. Jaehyun looks back, careful to awake Doyoung. 

 

His mouth goes slack. The other looks toward with just his eyes, which are sharp and pointy. They make Jaehyun shiver softly. He smiles invitingly towards the (subjectively cute,  but anyone would think this guy is beautiful) cashier, getting a returning smile. Jaehyun sits back in the seat. All eyes watch him, Johnny’s suspiciously switching between him and the cashier, Mark’s wide with raised eyebrows and mouth pursed, and Yuta’s sharp and piercing. Jaehyun takes his stare as a challenge. 

 

“You’re right, he is cute. I’ll go talk to him.” Jaehyun removes his jacket and places it on Doyoung’s shoulder so that his head doesn’t bang against the table. He slides out from the booth.

 

”Good luck getting him to talk.” Yuta snarls with a fake smile, hands folded by his head. Yukhei snickers quietly, watchig Jaehyun strol over to the desk. The cashier straightens his posture, gaze following Jaehyun’s move. 

 

Mark leans forward, “Can’t hear shit from this distance.”

 

”That’s because they’re not fucking talking.” Yuta lays his head on his arms facing away from them.

 

“Yeah they are, look.” Yukhei says simply, pointing to them. Johnny slaps his hand away. Yuta rolls his eyes, but looks nonetheless. They are in fact, talking, and it seems they ae rather enjoying themselves. Yuta smiles fakely. 

 

“Haha, great.”

 

”Seems like he just doesn’t like talking to you.” Yukhei mutters. 

 

“Do you know when to shut the fuck up?” 

 

“Do _you_ know how shut the fuck up? And who even are _you_?” Doyoung stirs with furrowed eyebrows. He wipes his eyes with the backs of his hands. 

 

“Sorry, Dodo. This is Yuta, aka bitchass.”

 

”Shut the fuck up, monkey ears. Why don’t you use them shits and listen in on them?” Yuta grunts, earning a laugh from Doyoung. 

 

“I like you, you can stay here. Where’s Jae?” 

 

“Getting some dick!” Mark shouts louder than intended with his hands up. Johnny clamps his hands over his mouth. Doyoung looks back, staring for longer than usual. When he turns around, his eyes are unfocused but he quickly clears his throat and places his hands on his lap. 

 

“What?” He snaps when he realizes everyone looking at him. “You’ve never seen someone sick before?” He fake coughs, turns bursts jnto a real one. “E–excuse me.” He slides out of the booth and walks into the restroom area. Yuta shrugs and lays his head back down. 

 

Johnny, Mark and Yukhei turn to face the bathroom area then each other. 

 

“Did tha–“

 

”Seem weird–“

 

”To you?” 

 

Johnny scratches his head. “Hm…fellas, we mi–“

 

”Ok so his name is Sicheng, he’s from China and he likes the color blue.” Jaehyun speaks as he sits down, a dumb grin overtaking his face. Yuta’s mouth goes agape. “Where’s Doyoung?”

”Hello Jaehyun,” Doyoung pops up beside him,  scooting into the booth, “I was in the bathroom.” He looks down to his lap. 

 

“Ok. Still sleepy? I‘m sorry if I woke you up by leaving.” 

 

“You didn’t wake me up but I’ll take my spot, thank you.” Doyoung lifts Jaehyun’s arm around him and snuggles into him, closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep. 

 

“You do know you’re gonna carry him out, right?” 

 

“Yeah, yeah. You say that as if I don’t carry his fatass to and from Mcdonalds.” Jaehyun snorts and Doyoung opens one eye. 

 

“You are on thin ice, buddy.” Doyoung growls into Jaehyun’s shoulder. 

 

Jaehyun just laughs.

 


	8. sweet.

“Hey!” Johnny hears Ten calling from behind him, so he turns while fixing his hair. 

 

“We’ll get going.” Johnny can practically hear the smirk on Yukhei’s voice. 

 

“Don’t le–“ 

 

“Go get em, tiger.” Mark forces a harsh slap on Johnny’s ass, earning a high pitched squeal from the tall male. He glares back and lifts his fist at the two youngest ones, who are running down the hallway. He looks back to Ten, laughing awkwardly. 

 

“Uh,” He holds his hands together, “Those are my dumbass friends.”

 

”I see. Are you doing anything later?” Ten pipes, eyes going wide while he waits for an answer.

 

”Other than watching my friends try to eat their own asses, no.” 

 

“Wow, give me– a sec—“ Ten covers his mouth and turns away, and by the way his shoulders are moving, Johnny senses that he’s laughing. When he finally looks back to Johnny, his eyes are still crinkled and his hands hold his stomach. “Sorry, uh, I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out.” 

 

“Oh my fucking gosh, yes! I mean, cool.” Johnny fixes his glasses, holding his hands in front of him. 

 

“I was thinking maybe just the park or something.” 

 

“That’s fine with me.” Johnny bites back a smile, “That’s perfectly fine.” 

 

—

 

Johnny didn’t know what he was expecting at all, but he sure wasn’t expecting the park to be completely empty. It was great, he really wasn’t complaining but it was quiet. He could tell Ten was getting frustrated with him as he was barely responding to anything he was saying. It wasn’t Johnny’s fault, he didn’t mean to seem rude but Ten was extremely pretty and looking at him up close wasn’t something he could do everyday. 

 

“Johnny, listen to me…” Ten whines while tugging Johnny’s hand, “Wow, your hand is fucking big.” Ten lifts their palms up together, sizing them. Johnny suppresses a smile at how tiny the younger’s hand looked against his. If he could just hold it…just to hold it. If he could jus– He looks up at Ten’s red cheeks. He the looks at their hands; entwined and upright. 

 

“Sorry.” Johnny whispers coyly. 

 

“It’s okay.” Ten puts their hands down on the table, “Doesn’t seem like it though.” 

 

“Do you want me to let go?” Johnny raises an eyebrow. Ten copies him, tilting his head challengingly. The eye contact is sustained but Johnny doesn’t know how long he has until he breaks. He doesn’t want to lose this; a simple event turned into a game. He smirks and leans forward as well. 

 

“We both know you wouldn’t though.” Ten’s words hold an underlying tease to them and it’s almost enough to break his spirits. Yet he doesn’t let it, he just uses it as fuel to defy Ten back. 

 

“Is that a challenge?” It takes more power than his whole being to pull his fingers from Ten’s tightening grip. He crosses his arms and rests them on the table. Ten’s mouth gapes, showing he obviously didn’t expect Johnny to comply. 

 

“I…was joking.” Ten pouts cutely.

 

“Sorry! I–I– here!” Johny rushes and puts thie hands together. “There you go!” He smiles stupidly, his cheeks lighting up bright. Ten lets out a loud laugh. 

 

“You cutie.” He pinches Johnny’s cheek, to which he leans into the touch. He pulls both his hands away and leans over to pull something in his pocket. He turns so his back faces Johnny. When he turns around, a mischievous smirk overtakes his features. “Is now a good time to make out?”

 

Johnny chokes on his spit and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. “H–Huh?”

 

”It’s smoochie time, baby boy.” Ten taps his lips invitingly. Johnny scratches his head, he _would_ laugh but he’s burning embarrassment for some reason. Ten climbs onto the table top, sitting in front of Johnny with his legs crossed. Johnny tries his best to stay calm but he just couldn’t. What the fuck is his problem? He feels Ten lift his chin. “You’re so shy.” He coos and Johnny simply blushes, covering his face with his palms. He uncovers himself just as quickly. 

 

“I’m sorry.” 

 

“It’s okay, just breathe.” Ten leans in closely. “Just guess.” Then he kisses him.

Ten’s lips were soft. It was weird, not Ten’s lips, but how Johnny had the sense of familarity and uncertainty at the same time. Their kisses were short and sweet, and Thank God it wasn’t awkward. It’s not every day you get to kiss your crush (Johnny laughs hysterically at the thought.)

More times than not, it’s Ten who pulls away first. When they break apart, it’s almost like Johnny’s body goes cold. Ten makes this wonderous feeling of warmth spread throughout his body and as soon as it’s gone, Johnny can’t remember it. It’s weird.

And another thing that’s weird, the fact that Johnny knew the flavor as soon as their lips touched but he was quick on his feet (read: lips) and made do with the extra seconds to enjoy Ten. It was no doubt that Ten was a good kisser and much more experienced than Johnny, so he took the chance to get better at it. It’s not like he had anything else to practice with, maybe his room wall but he is very vlose to cutting that out the equation.

“That’s obviously cherry.” Johnny states matter of factly, relishing Ten’s amused expression.

“You’re scaring me at how good you are at this.”

“You’re just scared to lose.”

Ten covers his mouth, giggling cutely. He then leans in, biting his finger. “Sweetheart, I’m not scared of anything.”


	9. sweet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so here is another shitty update (● ˃̶͈̀ロ˂̶͈́)੭ꠥ⁾⁾ i dont know how to end chapters for shit but enjoy !!

 

 

“Well, I have those flavors already.” Johnny mutters to himself, gaze switching between the two packs. “Ten used these flavors already.” He puts them back down, scanning father down the aisle.

 

To be frank, Johnny felt like he was on cloud nine. These past couple weeks have felt almost surreaslistic. What did he do to deserve the blessing of kissing his crush everyday? It’s not even that, he has the reason to hang out with Ten, even though he’s never asked (not yet.) He gets to admire Ten up close, hear his voice and even more. He felt truly blessed. 

 

“Johnny?” Johnny whips his head to see Ten’s small figure walking up to him excitedly. Johnny grins at him, takig in his outfit. A loose white button up and some black skinny jeans, Johnny thinks he looks great. Johnny always adored Ten’s sense of style, which contrasts greatly from his basic ass dudebro attire. “Hey boo.”

 

”Hey Ten.” Johnny immediately turns his shoulder, not wanting Ten to see his chapstick filled hands.

 

“What are you doing?” Ten peers over Johnny’s shoulder on his tippy toes. “Hey…” Ten whines cutely and Johnny nearly gives in. 

 

“Nothing.” 

 

“Johnny, lemme see.” 

 

“I have nothing in my hands.” Johnny tries to persuade him but Ten persists and pulls his shoulder back softly.

 

”Fine then.” Ten says and Johnny can tell by his voice that he’s accepted his defeat. Johnny lets out a soft breath. “Let me see, bitch!” Ten turns around to face Johnny’s front and thank God for Johnny’s quick reaction time, as he turns to face the other direction and throws the chapsticks packs back onto the rack. 

 

“I told you already, I have nothing.” Johnny faces Ten with a smug look. Ten hits his arm softly and Johnny takes the chance to pull him closer. Ten’s eyes widen for a split second before he raises an eyebrow. Before Johnny can react, Ten’s lips are on his. 

 

With every time they kiss, it’s a new sensation. No kiss is the same from the last. This one is very different, the circumstances under which they did this were unexpected. Johnny would never imagine making the initial move, or kissing someone in an open aisle in the middle of a Target. Ten pulls away and Johnny is reminded of the sensation that doesn’t change; when they stop kissing. It’s always the same dread.

 

A playful grin rests on Ten’s lips, “Guess.” 

 

The thrill is the same. Johnny hasn’t gone one wrong since they started and he held it against Ten at any given moment. He won’t lie, it built up his pride (just a bit, but can you blame him?) He stares off into the distance, licking his lips and thinking of anything the flavor reminds him of. The flavors also remind him of something, his main tactic to pinpointing the name of the taste. 

 

But this one is bland. It doesn’t have a taste. That stumps Johnny. Ten muffles a laugh as he sees Johnny’s clear confusion. “You want another smooch?” His tone is teasing.

 

Johnny grabs his face, trying to figure it out. It’s very weird. He feels the substance on his lips, and if anything, it leaves a feeling and not a taste. It feels cold; everytime Johnny takes a breath in, he feels all the air sticking to his lips. He touches his lip softly, scrunching his face. “Is this– is this mint?”

 

It’s Ten turn to be confused. “How did you get that?”

 

“I don’t know. This shit doesn’t have a taste.” Johnny mutters the last part, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

 

“It does too.”

 

“No, it doesn’t.”

 

Ten pouts, holding onto Johnny’s forearm. “You’re not the one wearing it.”

 

“Ten, I just kissed you so I could know what it tasted like.”

 

“You mean guess the flavor?”  

 

“It’s the same thing.”

 

”It really isn’t.” Johnny takes the chance to smush Ten’s cheeks together with his large hands that cover up the majority of Ten’s face. “Hey!” Johnny plays with his cheeks and pushes them around, Ten protesting silently but not stopping him. 

 

“I’m not arguing with you anymore, okay?” Johnny says slowly and walks off into another aisle. 

 

“Hey! Wait!” He hears Ten call out after him, his footsteps fast and heavy. “You have such long legs, I don’t know how you’re not bumping into shit.” 

 

“I’m not that clumsy.” Johnny bumps into a mannequin, knocking their right hand right off. He awkwardly goes to pick it up. Ten’s muffled laugh sounds in his ears. 

 

“And what was that about not being clumsy?”

 

“Shut up.” 

 

—

 

When Johnny goes out for his Target runs, he  doesn’t stay very long. Maybe 30 minutes, an hour, an hour and a half tops. Today isn’t the exception to that normality. When he goes out for his Target runs, it’s just one Target. Not multiple around the city. Today is the exception. 

 

He doesn’t know how Ten convinced to waste his gas by driving to every Target in the area. Johnny wouldn’t waste any time saying no to anyone else, he was no match for Ten’s taunting voice. He was no risk taker, he enjoyed not being noticed more than stealing the spotlight, and he definitely hated being a disturbance to the public. But with Ten, all that didn’t matter.

”Drive!” Ten laughs contentedly with his hands outstretched. Johnny laughs with him, pushing the cart at full speed. 

 

“We have to turn!” Johnny squeals, lifting one hand to push his glasses back up his nose. He tries to turn the cart one handedly, managing to only turn slightly. It skids across the floor, gains more speed, and crashes into a stack of oranges. The car flips onto its side with Ten inside. When he lands, the oranges break his fall while he breaks oranges. “Fuck!”

 

Johnny reaches over to help Ten up, dusting him off. His clothes are stained orange and the mess they’ve made sticks out like a sore thumb. “Are you good?” 

 

Ten breathes out, “I’m fucking dying.” Ten rubs his arm with a pained expression. “We have ten seconds before workers come and charge us. We have to go.” 

 

“But–“ Ten grabs Johnny’s arm and runs out of the Target, all the way to Johnny’s car. “Get in!” Johnny unlocks the car and Ten climbs in through the driver seat, leaping over the middle compartment. Johnny barely even gets the door closed when he pushes the key in the ignition and starts driving. Ten laughs suddenly, doubling over in laughter. He falls backwards onto the airbag compartment. 

 

Johnny chuckles quietly as well. “Ten, get up.” He says. Ten continues to laugh, fixing himself to sit correctly in the chair. “You’re such a dumbass.” 

 

“You’re a dumbass too.” Ten snickers. “Your car smells like oranges.” 

 

“Hmm, I wonder why?” 

 

“Hmm me too.” 

 

 


	10. bitter.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i’ve decided to give a lil insight from ten’s view hee hee :)) enjoy !!!!

“Well look who’s finally home.” Kun snickers as Ten walks through the door. Ten flicks him off while kicking off his shoes. “Oh my gosh, what happened to your clothes?”

Ten doesn’t answer, simply smiling at the now memory of the past events he just lived. It felt nice, nicer than it should have. He feels a bit bad for leading Johnny into that mess, but he doesn’t regret it one bit. Perhaps he likes spending time with that big baby.

“Earth to Ten! Hello!” Kun slaps Ten’s cheek softly, snapping Ten out of it.

“What?”

“I asked what happened to your clothes!”

“I ran into Johnny at the store and we went store hopping. Last store we went to, I got inside a cart and Johnny to push me around,” Ten coughs to cover up a smile with his hand, “then we crashed into a stack of oranges.”

Kun smirks, leaning against the wall. “Oh really? You spent time with Mr. Big Boy?”

“I thought we agreed to not call him that.” Ten grunts.

“You agreed. I didn’t. Besides, are we wrong? That guy is fucking huge.” Kun turns around on his heel and walks into the den, where Taeyong and Jungwoo reside on the recliner couch watching a show. Ten follows suit. “Miss Ten here spent time with Mr. Big Boy today.” Kun sing songs while rummaging through the bookshelf.

The show stops on a pause, his two other friends looking at him. “Is that true?”

“Why would I lie about hanging out with Johnny?”

Taeyong jumps up to come near Ten, but he stops in his tracks to hold his nose. “Why do you smell like oranges? Your shirt!” Taeyong hurries to unbutton Ten’s shirt while he explains, removing the stained clothing. “This will take so much detergent to clean.” He mutters to himself.

“Ten? Is your arm okay?”

“Yeah, why?” Ten looks to his left arm, a long bruise forming. He covers most of it up with his small hand. “I mean it hurts a bit but nohing too bad.” Taeyong hurries into the kitchen, and just as quick, he’s back with an ice pack. 

 

“Ice it.” He presses it to Ten’s arm cautiously, moving his hand atop it. Ten just nods and plops beside Jungwoo on the couch. 

 

“What day are you guys on?” Jungwoo asks sleepily, head propped up on his hand on the arm rest of the couch. Only his eyes face Ten. 

 

Ten immediately knows what he’s talking about. “It’s been a week and a half. I’ve only won four times.” Ten grunts. 

 

“What are you gonna do if he ‘wins?’” Taeyong puts up air quotes, making Ten roll his eyes. 

 

“Nothing.” 

 

“Come on, Ten.” Kun frowns. “You shouldn’t play with his feelings like that.” 

 

“I’m not playing with his feelings! I can’t experiment?” Ten turns to face Kun, obviously becoming frustrated with him. 

 

“Yeah, with _science_ experiments. Johnny’s a person and you know, like we know, that it would break his heart if you…” An awkward silence lingers in the air as Kun trails off, more so for Ten to finish the sentence than just because he didn’t want to go on. Ten didn’t catch on.

 

”If I _what_ , Kun? There’s no feelings involved so this shit shouldn’t be that big of a deal!” 

 

“You know that but does Johnny!” Kun stands up, motioning beside him subconsciously. “He really likes you. Genuinely, in that whore ass school full of bitches who just want clout points, he genuinely likes you. For you to do this is fucking wrong.” Kun sighs exasperatedly, the compassion he holds for Johnny evident in his softening tone. Ten’s eyes switch between Kun, Jungwoo, and Taeyong, searching for something. He sits back and holds his hands in his lap.

 

”I’m– you’re right. I guess, I’m just…I don’t know what came over me.” Ten whispers. “I know he’s not an experiment. I guess I just–” Ten scratches his head, “nevermind. I’m in over my head so I’ll call it a night.” 

 

Ten reaches up off the couch to stretch out his limbs. “It’s okay, Tennie. Just be careful.” 

 

“I know.” He bites his lip softly. “I will.” 


	11. sour.

There were millions of reason why Johnny was up at ass o’ clock in the morning. Johnny had gotten very used to waking up early and functioning less than three hours of sleep but that didn’t apply to the two days he had to catch up on extra sleep. But lately, he’s been thinking about too much at once and last night was the brink of it all and he had officially only been able to sleep one hour at most.

Now here he was at 5 AM, in some sweats and burgundy sweater, with a bad case of bedhead and his big ass glasses on, walking around the city streets of Seoul. It was never not busy as far as Johnny was concerned, but he had never seen the area so empty before. Only few people come out so early in the morning (or late at night, if you will.) Johnny felt serene; the feeling was nice.

He sat down on an empty park bench, just in front of a small pond, lily pads and fronds, the whole beauty of it all. Thoughts raced around in his head uncontrollably, down from term papers due to Ten. He’d much rather think about Ten. He picks things off his shirt, mumbling quietly to himself. He could’ve drifted back to sleep, but he just couldn’t.

“Why are you out so late?” A low, unfamiliar voice comes from behind him. Johnny immediately goes into panic mode. Fight or flight, Johnny balls his fist, fight of flight. Sure, Johnny was a big guy, but he wouldn’t hurt a fly. He was a gentle giant and that’s all there was to it. The most he could do to harm someone is just jump on them and if he misses, he misses. He breathes out slowly and turns around slowly, hoping it’s just an old lady and not a serial killer.

To his surprise, it’s a short redhead, skin tan and nose broad. Johnny didn’t let his guard down, puffing out his chest. “What is it to you?”  
“Calm down, big boy. I’m not looking for a fight.” The male places his hands out in front of his chest, laughing softly. Johnny unclenches his fists but he keeps his appearance strong. “I’ll sit here. Don’t beat my ass.” He says slowly to Johnny as if speaking to a child, cautiously walking around the bench and sitting down.

Johnny scans him and relaxes back onto the bench, yet he still holds his guard up by sitting on the very edge of the bench. He’d rather have one ass cheek hanging off the side than having his ass cheeks sliced off by a maniac. He places his hands on his thighs, keeping his gaze in front of him. 

“Look, it’s five in the morning and I’m out here because I can’t sleep.” The guy sighs, Johnny hearing the tiredness in his voice. “You?” 

Johnny’s eyes shift to him for a quick second, “Me too.” 

“What’s on your mind?” The barricade holding back the thoughts he holds cracks just a bit. Johnny curls his fingers into his pants, lookig down. “I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours. I doubt we’ll ever see each other again, and your secrets are mine to keep.” The barricade breaks.

“I,” Johnny begins, “really like this guy. I always have. And it’s just– gosh, it’s just dawning on me how bad I have it for him.” 

“What made you realize that?” 

“We made this deal. I have to guess the chapstick he’s wearing every day for a month and if I get more than half of that correct, we date.” Johnny licks his lips just reminiscing on it. 

“And,” There’s an awkward pause, before the male continues, “you’re thinking about if you don’t?” 

“If I don’t what?” 

“If you don’t win.“ 

“He didn’t…tell me anything.” His voice falters. “I–I just assumed that we don’t date. I don’t wanna think about it.” 

“Oh. Okay, I understand.” He doesn’t speak after that. Johnny scratches his head awkwardly. 

“I’m going to head back.”

“Okay. Bye,” the male says, allowing Johnny to leave, “Wait!” Johnny turns to face the male, whose torso is turned to face him, “Good luck with him. It seems like you really like him.” Johnny smiles warmly to him, heading on his way. 

He arrives quicker than he expected, underestimating the length of his legs, but it doesn’t matter. That walk was enough to tire him out. He doesn’t fall asleep the second his head hits the pillow, he simply lays on his side, staring to the window. He didn’t know if Ten felt the same, but if he knew one thing, he knew that he just wanted to go to sleep.


	12. sweet.

“I want to get Ten flowers.” Johnny spoke softly to no one in particular, nitpicking petals off the artificial flowers. 

“Do you think he’ll like em?” Jaehyun turns his upper body from the couch to face Johnny, lavender hair toussled. A hand, Johnny already knows it’s Doyoung’s, to fix it. 

“Maybe he’s one of those people who only like big extravagant gifts like diamond rings or the newest phone.” Yukhei peeps in, “I don’t know though.” 

Mark nibbles on his lip, “Or maybe he’ll accept the gift and thank you. I don’t know though either.” 

“Wow thanks guys.” 

“We’re just letting you know what we think. Do you know what he might like?” 

“Maybe,” Johnny thought about it, pure observation alone wasn’t enough for him to proudly boast that he knows what Ten might like. The thougt deflates his mood, “maybe not…” 

“Don’t lose hope, Johnathan. If he doesn’t like the flowers, ask him out on a date.” Yukhei walks over to pat his shoulder. Johnny stares at him blankly, but the dumb grin Yukhei always has makes him smile just a bit. 

“How would that work?” Doyoung curls himself deeper into Jaehyun, who doesn’t seem to mind the lack of space between them. 

“Easy. He could give Ten the flowers and Ten doesn’t like them, so he could swoop in with the ‘Aight, so uh,, let me take your fine ass out so I can learn more about you and your favorite flowers.’” 

Johnny furrows his eyebrows. “I like where you’re going, but I won’t say it like that.” 

“Oh we know,” Doyoung chuckles, covering his mouth with his hand, “but when y’all start dating and shit, we all know that’s exactly how you’ll take him out. You know we know.” 

Johnny opened up his mouth to speak, but they were right. Johnny is a gentleman – don’t get him wrong – but, maybe if things get comfortable, he could address the situation how he pleased. Right? And it was true, Ten was one fine ass bitch, not that he’d ever use that word to describe Ten ever again or out loud. But hey, he really couldn’t lie. “Okay.” He smirks. “Bet.”

—

Johnny’s hand was unsteady. It was shaking so bad. And on top of that, his hands were sweaty. Nothing would be wrong with that if it wasn’t for the fact that the flower stems already had enough liquid on them in his hand. Maybe the flowers might slip, even if it defies the laws of gravity or physics or whatever it was – Johnny wasn’t good at science. He does know there’s a huge chance he might drop it, and if he does, Ten will see them before he shows it to him. Even though isn’t out in the hallways now, chances are that the moment he drops will be the moment Ten walks into view (hypothetically speaking.) He’s spiraling. 

He’s only glad he wore dark pants or else the wetness would be a bit too visible on his backside. He felt it dampening but he’d rather that than for his flowers to be seen. He hopes Ten likes them. What if they weren’t Ten’s favorite flower? What if Ten didn’t |have a favorite flower? What if Ten didn’t even like flowers? Fuck. Johnny should just take off his glasses before Ten reacts so he doesn’t have to see the disappointment. 

He enters the library quietly as directed as the tacky sign above the door instructs. He wanders through on the black carpet floor, trying to calm his breathing. He tries to breathe in and out on a pattwrn that could calm him. Everybody take a breath, I love it when you take a breath! Doyoung taught him that. He could feel himself calming, coming back to earth, slower, more healthily paced breat–

“Boo!” 

“Fuck!” Johnny shouts as Ten whispers in hsi ear, shocking him and sending his heart rate through the roof. He drops the flowers, grabbing his chest.

“Sir! Be quiet! I will let you off with a warning!” The librarian damn near growls at him and he winces, turning back to Ten. His gaze drops to the flowers, oh fuck, the flowers— he reaches down to grab them as quickly as he can. He hopes Ten didn’t already notice them.

“Why would you do that? Fuck, Ten, you scared me!” He whispers. 

“Hello to you, Johnny.” Ten coos, swinging his torso side to side softly with his hands holding behind his back. Johnny loses his frown immediately. “You got something behind your back? Let me see.” 

“Oh, uh, here.” Johnny shoves the flowers forward. They’re crumpled and bent from being on the floor. Mayeb Ten stepped on them by accident. He watches Ten intently. He has no reaction. “I’m sor–“

“This is so fucking cute. Johnny, you sweetheart.” Ten takes the flowers delicately, smiling widely at the nature. 

“I wasn’t sure if you‘d like them. Do–do you?” Johnny leans his head down curiously. When Ten lifts his head, he realizes they’re closer than he thought. Ten’s smile seems to widen, if even possible, before he wraps his arms around Johnny’s neck. 

Johnny gasps. There’s a large gap of time before he retaliates and places his hands on Ten’s back. Ten smelt so good, like what he’d imagine the galaxies to smell like. His shirt felt thin in his hands but he paid no mind. Ten was tiny in his arms, like a perfect fit. 

“I love them. I don’t know why I’m so excited, people do shit like this for me all the time but– I don’t know. I’m actually really happy.” Ten plops back on his whole foot from his tip toes, hugging the flowers. “Thank you so much, Johnny. Really.” 

“I’m glad you enjoyed them. I was stressing myself out at the florist because I didn’t know what kind of flowers you liked.” Johnny chuckles, “Shit took forever.” The two laugh a little more before a silence settles over them. 

Johnny scratches his head, realizing he had another goal. He stares at Ten as he thinks of ways to approach with it. He thinks of all the suggestions his buddies made for him, including ‘Heyo shortie, u wanna have dinner then i cant that ass for dessert?’ and ‘I only have 15 cents but I’ll spend it on a leaf for you, baby boom.’ He wasn’t using either of them. 

“When we first talked, you couldn’t even look at me, now you always stare at me.” Ten says harmlessly. 

“Is that a bad thing? You’re really fucking pretty, Ten. If you haven’t noticed.”

For some reason, Ten’s ears, cheeks, and nose turn red. Johnny smiles at the sight. “I know. Thank you though.” 

“Let me take you out on a date.” Johnny suddenly blurts. “I mean, can I?”

“I’m flattered.” Ten says sweetly, biting his bottom lip. What does that mean? 

Johnny scratches his head, “Is that– is that a yes?” 

“Yes! You slow ass.” Ten slaps his shoulder. “I thought you were quicker than that.” 

“I thought we established that I’m a dumbass!” 

“Oh, I know.” Ten pats his head, “but you’re my dumbass.”


	13. bitter.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> perhaps this chap is a bit long,, took me abt 4 days to write it but pls enjoy !!

 

 

Ten didn’t give any real indication of where he’d like to be taken to. ‘Surprise me,’ wasn’t much help either. So Johnny had been left to stress himself out for a week and a half over where to take Ten; because it could either go super fucking bad or super fucking great. Johnny wanted to disappear from existence, but he couldn’t or else that’d cause a car accident. He could barely keep his foot still, the one that wasn’t on the gas, and the closer he got to Ten’s house, the more slippery the wheel felt.

 

Eventually, he pulled up in front of the white house. It was much larger than Johnny’s small apartment. He felt poor. Nonetheless, he exits the car and makes his way up the walkway. He rings the doorbell curtly, then jumps backs. I should pull a ding dong ditch right now, he thinks. He could’ve made the run for it but his feet were glued in place when he heard the lock turn. The door splits open.

 

“Hi! You’re here for Ten?” A brunette with large eyes answers the door.

 

“Yes.”

 

“That’s Johnny?” A voice sounds from inside the house, feet scrambling and soon enough, a short male with dirty blonde appears on the doorframe. “Oh wow.” He leans on the doorframe. “Hey, uh, you come here often?”

 

“Haechan, he’s here for a date with Ten. Besides he probably doesn’t like people who don’t do their fucking homework.””

 

“Then why does he like Ten! It’s not fair, Taeyong!” Haechan stomps cutely, making Johnny laugh. “This is discrimination.”

 

“Don’t you barn animals know how to behave when a guest is at the door?” Ten steps between the bickering males. Johnny thinks it’s safe to say that his breath got punched out of him. “Back to the stables. Anyways, hey Johnny.”

 

“H–hi.” Johnny heaves, “You look beautiful. As always.” The two begin to walk to the car.

 

“You don’t look so bad yourself.” Johnny opens the door to the car, helping Ten get in before running over to help himself. “Any idea of where we’re going?”

 

“Just know,” Johnny places a hand behind his seat to reverse, “that I made dinner reservations.”

 

—

 

The restaurant was elegant and expensive, judging by the $50 reservation fee Johnny paid up front. Despite how much more money he’ll be spending at the end of the night, it wouldn’t matter because it was all worth it for Ten. After a 15 minute wait in line, they were finally seated to a table. Johnny hopes Ten would enjoy tonight.

 

“This is fancy, Johnny. I like it.” Ten’s lips curl up like chesire cat. He shimmies in his seat, gazingn around the restaurant. The walls are velvety red, glass chandeliers coating the ceiling and glass accents on the floor. “I assumed you were every other basic broke college student.”

 

“Trust me, I am. I saved up to take you out.” Johnny breathes heavily. “I hope this is enough.”

 

“It’s more than enough. Shit, even I feel poor in here. I wouldn’t even think about spending money here or else my whole bank account would run dry.” Johnny laughs, as does Ten, at the statement. Johnny likes how things were going. This is good, he rubs his hands on his jeans, things are working out.

 

The waiter arrives when the two aren’t paying attention, a tall gentlemen with slicked back black hair and a beauty mole just beside his nose. He was ravishing. “Good evening, my name is Xiu Jin and I’ll be your waiter for tonight. Anything to start you off?”

 

Johnny looks to Ten, “order whatever you want.” Ten nods to him before looking at the waiter. He can tell Ten is also shocked by how good looking he is. He lays his head on his hand, full attention on Xiu Jin.

 

“Any recommendations?” Ten smiles playfully, Xiu Jun grinning back.

 

“For appetizers, I recommend the popcorn shrimp, full platter comes with salad and breadsticks for $10.99, but I’ll drop it $5.99 for you, darling.” Xiu Jin winks. Johnny couldn’t believe his eyes. He tries to ignore it, he doesn’t have the right to get upset. Him and Ten aren’t even together. They’re not– together. Johnny leans back in his seat, pretending to check his phone. It was full of messages from the Bros™️ groupchat, asking him how it was going.

 

Ass Chewer:

bro how’s it going !!!

 

markie :):

tell us !!

 

my other half OOF:

we’re not home just in case yall drop by

it’s all yours ;)

 

doieeee:

whatever you do, dont make a mess on the couch !!

 

ass chewer :):

he’s not answering:((

 

markie:):

he’s prolly eating ten’s ass

 

doieeee:

shut up before i KICK ur ass

 

Johnny laughs at the messages. “Johnny?” He snaps back to reality. The waiter and Ten were waiting for him.

 

“I’ll have what he’s having.” Xiu Jin nods before walking off. Ten turns back to him, leaning forward with his arms folded on the table. “What?”

 

“Nothing.” Ten says. Johnny just smiles, noticing a loose thread on Ten’s shirt.

 

“You have a— lemme get it.” Johny leans over and pulls at the thread.

 

“Wait– Johnny, no.” But it’s too late. He pulled the thread too harsh and a patch of the shirt unraveled as he kept pulling. A piece of skin was unveiled.

 

“I’m so sorry.”

 

“It’s fine.” Ten dismisses it, grabbing a napkin and holding it onto the open patch. The waiter comes back with their appetizers.

 

“Here’s your starters, with some sauce.” The waiter places it down onto the table. “Oh? Your shirt seems to be ripped. Let me grab another for you?”

 

“No thanks, it’s fine.” Ten waves him off, leaning over to grab some shrimp.

 

“I insist. At least let me sew it for you.” Xiu Jin leans forwrd to grab Ten’s shirt.

 

“Don’t fucking touch him!” Johnny leaps on instinct, pushing Xiu Jin’s hands away on instict and knocking over some sauce in the process. It lands on his jeans.

 

“What’s your issue? I can’t help?” He says cockily.

 

“No one taught that no means no? He said he doesn’t want your help!” Johnny growls, stepping outside the booth. Xiu Jin narrows his eyes to Johnny. It’s moments like these that make Johnny proud to be so tall. Xiu Jin seemed to make it only to his nose.

 

Ten stands up between them, hands on Johnny’s chest to keep him from pushing closer to Xiu Jin. “Johnny, let’s just go.”

 

“You weren’t doing anything to help him! He needs a real man to step up and help him!”

 

“What a real man is one that respects the boundaries of others. Don’t tell me what a real man is.” Johnny rolls his eyes.

 

Xiu Jin scoffs, “Look at you! You’ve got sauce on your jeans, you’re out with a man, a–“

 

“Weren’t you just hitting on him though?” Johnny raises an eyebrow. “I see what this is. You can’t handle rejection in any way shape or form, can you? Now you’re taking blows at my sexuality just because you can’t come to an end with yours? Don’t play that game with me.”

 

“Johnny, let’s go.” Ten pleads, gripping Johnny’s shirt.

 

“You don’t know shit!” Xiu Jin pushes Ten aside into the table, leaping onto Johnny. Johnny pulls him from on top of him, crawling back to his feet. “You’re not gonna hit me? Come on, gimme your best shot!”

 

“I don’t wanna fight you.” Johnny leans over to help Ten up, pulling him into his arms despite the sauce on his back. “Ten, are you okay?”

 

“My fucking back bro what the fuck?” Ten scowls.

 

“Lau Xiu Jun! What’s wrong with you! Fighting with a customer!” The restaurant director pulls into view, grabbing Xiu Jin by the back of his collar. He turns to Johnny, “Are you alright, sir?”

 

“We’re fine.”

 

“I apologize for tonight, I truly do.”

 

“It’s fine. We’ll be going now.” Johnny deadpans, walking past the booths to the exit. He doesn’t say a word as they enter the car. It’s deathly silent. Johnny puts the key into the ignition but he doesn’t start the car. It’s just quiet.

 

The silence is replaced by soft sniffles. Ten snaps his head to Johnny, the glimmer of tears shining off his cheek. “Johnny…what’s wrong?”

 

“Tonight,” Johnny bites his lip, tears flowing faster, “was supposed to be perfect. It was supposed to be good. Now we’re covered in sauce and you probably hate me.” Johnny sobs quietly. The sound breaks Ten’s heart far more than he could imagine.

 

“Johnny, I could never hate you.” Ten leans over the middle, laying his head on Johnny’s shoulder. “Especially after how you stood up for me in there, I think I have a stronger appreciation for you.”

 

“I just wanted you to like it. I didn’t know what else to do.”

 

“To be real, I would’ve been perfectly fine chilling at yours with some ramen.” Ten admits calmly. He waits for Johnny to react, hoping it was enough to stop him from crying.

 

“I’ll keep that in mind for the next one.”

 

“The night is still young,” Ten mumbles, Johnny nodding along.

 

“Yeah,” Johnny wipes his nose, “it is.”

 

Ten grunts. How could he be so slow? “Dumbass, we could do that right now.”

 

“Oh! Well then, what are we waiting for?” Johnny smiles through sparkly tears, cheerily speaking with a nasal voice due to his sinuses getting clogged.

 

“I’m waiting on you!”

 

——

 

Ten liked the smell of Johnny’s hoodie; he very much prefered it over the sauce. He thinks he likes Johnny’s hoodie in general. He doesn’t want to just admit he likes it, but does spending half your time in bathroom inspecting yourself in it count as a sign of (undeniable) adoration for it? He had seen the jacket on Johnny a couple times in the halls, the large male looking small in the hoodie. Not once had Ten thought that if the hoodie looked big on Johnny, it would be _ginormous_  on him.

 

But here he was in the large burgundy hoodie that reaches way past his knees. He should’ve walked out the bathroom a while ago, but he couldn’t. He didn’t know why though, it surely couldn’t be he clothes. He wore things like this all the time at home, even without shorts (Johnny had offered him a pair of sweats that a friend named Markhad left but he kindly refused to it for various reasons.) He had to step at eventually. When he did, he was fine, walking down the hallway slowly, just inspecting the few paintins Johnny had on his walls. He reaches the end, revealig himself to Johnny and suddenly, air in his body got tight.

 

They make eye contact, before Johnny smiles fondly. Ten would be lying if he said he didn’t feel the extreme rays of energy he’s never felt before radiate onto him. “I was starting to think you were never gonna come out. Hurry, the ramen is getting cold.” Johnny urges him. He skips in little skips and plops onto the couch, legs bent under the hoddie so they don’t touch the floor. It seems almost natural to face Johnny entirely. “Is it okay?”

 

“What?” He looks to Johnny’s finger pointed to his clothing. “Oh. This is great. I might drown in it, if i could just have something like th–“

 

“You can have it.” Johnny rushes out. Ten looks at him wide eyes, Johnny awkwardly shoving large spoonfuls of ramen into his mouth.

 

“Really? I was just joking.” Ten scratches his head.

 

“Npho, phyuo kaan,” Johnny tries to speak through the food.

 

“Chew, _then_ speak. You might choke.” Ten pats his back teasingly. Johnny covers his mouth with a fist, chewing hard and trying to swallow. When he finally does, he looks extremely relieved despite the blazing fire of his face.

 

“I was saying that you can have it. I have a bunch like them. And it’s getting cold so you might need it.” Johnny grins. Ten leans over to grab his cup of ramen, smiling heavily.

 

“Thanks. You’re a real one.” Johnny smiles back, leaning into the couch. The only sound filling their lack of conversation was the sound of them slurping the obviously delicious food. When they finish, neither of them step up and start talking. Even so, the silence is comforting as opposed to awkward. Ten didn’t really want to say anything. He just wanted to look at Johnny.

 

The other seems peaceful as he stares up at the ceiling, unaware that Ten is staring at him. Well not staring, he didn’t want to say that because it sounds creepy, more so, admiring. Inspecting? _Observing_? He can’t find any word to make him feel less weird than he already does. Ten never really got the opportunity to look at Johnny. From the side, at least. Now he does, and he doesn’t know how to approach it. His eyes shake as they dart from the wall beyond Johnny, his lap, the curve of Johnny’s lips. They were so _pretty_ and full and _pouty_.

 

Ten knew that Johnny didn’t wear chapstick like he did but he admired how he manages to keep them so soft. It was one of the first things Ten noticed about him when they first kissed. The second thing was how he seemed to always taste like…somethig sweet. Ten could taste his own chapstick when they kissed, but it seemed as if the taste of Johnny was stronger than any amount of layers he could put on. It was definitely better than any chapstick he could ever put on. He does actually enjoy their kisses a lot more than he thought he should and it physically stressed him out.

 

That wasn’t the goal. Well, there _wasn’t_ a ‘goal’ but _if_ there was, that wouldn’t have been it. He scoots closer to Johnny, whose eyes are fluttering shut by the second. They close shut, squeezing tight a couple times before he rests. What a beauty. Ten places his elbow on the edge of he couch, resting his head on his hand. He leans closer and closer, before he knows it, Johnny’s eyes open slowly. He would’ve moved, but something kept him in place. Johnny doesn’t react for a second, and Ten just thinks it’s a sleeping habit he might has and that he’s _actually_  asleep. But he’s awake, a full fledged smirk on his face.

 

“Ten, as much as I like kissing you, I won’t kiss you with ramen breath.” He chuckles sleepily. “I’m gonna call it a night.” He stands and stretches, before grabbing the cups and heading off into the kitchen. Ten doesn’t move up from his seat, his head following Johnny. He emerges from the kitchen, going to the hallway. “You coming? I’m not letting you sleep on the couch.”

 

“Yeah. I am.” Ten hurries up past Johnny, who stays behind to ensure the lights are off. “Where’s that spare toothbrush?” He switches the bathroom light on, watching Johnny through the mirror. He wordlessly pulls it out the cabinet while grabbing his own. “Thanks.”

 

After they brush their teeth, Johnny practically slithers into the sheets, knocking a couple teddy bears onto the floor. Ten doesn’t know whether to get in or not. “You don’t have to sleep with the demons on the floor, you know.” He yawns.

 

“Right.” Ten crawls and lays on the edge. He’s scared to even come in contact after the couch incident. He doesn’t know what came over him.

 

Johnny flips over to face Ten, both hands under his head and a sleepy smile on his face. “I might be big, but I won’t crush you. Come here.” Johnny invites Ten with an arm, to which he doesn’t decline. “I’m a cuddler.”

 

“I can tell.” Ten laughs. Johnny’s arm rests loosely on his hip but there’s still a decent enough amount of space between them. Johnny laughs too, eyes closed and lips corners upturned before they drop and signal that he’s out. Ten figured he might’ve been drained after tonight. Ten expected tonight to end up differently, more so /hoped for it to end up differently. Now he was here, in Johnny’s arms. This wasn’t a bad thing, and that was the bad thing. Ten wasn’t supposed to enjoy this.

 

And you know, it’s not even the enjoyment. It’s the feeling of comfort and serenity he felt being with Johnny that was stressing him. He _hates_ it. He rarely feels like this, and he could’ve sworn he would never feel like this again. It wouldn’t matter. This probably never happen again. And if that was the case, Ten would take his chance and get rid of the space between them.

 

Just to experience it one time.


	14. sweet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> argh,, im sorry for the long wait !! i took a diff route w this chapter and i wanted to follow thru w it even tho it was a bit hard to write but here it is~~ so enjoy and happy thanksgiving yuh

“How was the date?” After a long moment of silence due to them eating their meals, Doyoung asks. 

Johnny immediately smiles, his cheek dimple appearing on his cheek. “It was fine.” 

“Don’t play that shit, give us the details, whore.” Mark snips. 

“I took him to that expensive ass restaurant across from the waterpark, and this guy got into with me or whatever. We went to my house and ate ramen, then slept. Nothing serious.”

“You fought someone?”

“You went to sleep in the same bed?”

“So you didn’t take him to the waterpark like I said?” The questions flood out. 

“He tried to fight me. We did and we cuddled, and no I didn’t.” Johnny grunts. “Enough of that, I heard that you went on a date.” Johnny wiggles his finger at the younger, who looks down embarrassedly. 

“I did.” Jaehyun smiles cheekily, looking back at Sicheng. The other notices him, piping up with a smile similar smile. He was cute. Johnny shifts his gaze from Sicheng to Doyoung beside him, who keeps his head down. He frowns, tugging Doyoung’s sleeve discreetly. Doyoung snaps his head, so he mouths, “You good?”

Doyoung nods before placing his head back on his arms. Johnny wishes he could just smack Jaehyun upside the head or something, he doesn’t have time to think of alternatives as the sound of someone entering disrupt his train of thought. It’s Yuta. 

The Japanese male waves at them, sliding into the empty space of their booth. “Wassup.” He receives a response from all except one, and hat enough seemed to bother him. He taps Doyoung softly. 

“Hm?”

“Hi.” He coos sweetly. 

“Hi.” And he lays his head back down. Yuta grins softly before turning his attention to Sicheng. Johnny watches as the other frowns when he notices Yuta, questions multiplying in his mind. He could’ve sworn Yuta was in love with him a couple weeks ago. Yuta rolls his eyes. “I want more food.” Doyoung grumbles. “In fact, I wanna leave.” 

“You and me both.” Yuta mutters, plopping his head on his arms. 

“You guys can go, me and Mark have to do some work back at the dorms.” 

“You mean community service after graffiting a dick on the bathroom wall?” Johnny raises an eyebrow. 

Yukhei narrows his eyebrows ans sticks out his tongue, “mind ya own!” 

“Anyways, down to dip?” Yuta asks Doyoung. 

“I am if you are.”

—

Doyoung didn’t really know Yuta like that at all. He usually doesn’t like being around people he doesn’t know, but he’d rather be with Yuta than Jaehyun. He’d take the awkwardness over the heartbreak anyday. 

“Where’d you buy your shoes? I wanna get a pair.” Yuta points to Doyoung’s tattered Vans. “Newer but you get the point.” 

“The shoe store.” 

“No shit Sherlock.” Yuta kicks a leaf off the ground in front of him. He turns on one foot to face Doyoung. He bumps into Yuta. “You’re not always this dry, are you?”

“I regret coming out here with you.” Doyoung snips harshly. 

“Ouch.” Yuta pulls his hand out his pocket, placing it over his heart. “Come on, what can I do to make you not regret? There’s gotta be something.” He tilts his head invitingly. 

Doyoung rolls his eyes. He pinches his thigh from his inside pocket, “Nothing. Can we go back?” 

“I have $110, how ‘bout shoe shopping?” 

“My shoes are perfectly fine, thank you.” Doyoung turns on his heel and begins walking away, but Yuta catches up by jogging backwards beside him. “We’re not doing anything together! This means nothing!” 

“Woah there. I don’t have feelings for you, if that’s what you’re implying. I asked to leave with you because I didn’t wanna be around Sicheng and you obviously didn’t wanna be around Jaehyun. I thought we could have a good time, but if you really wanna go back, we can. It’s cold out here anyway.” Doyoung sighs, feeling bad immediately for being so irritable. He fiddles with his fingers. 

“No, that’s not– that’s not what I meant. I didn’t mean to snap, I just,, just don’t usually walk around with strangers.” Doyoung mumbles, swaying side to side. It was this moment that he started to question how he thought the night was going to turn out. 

“Well,, you have to if you wanna give me the chance to not be a stranger anymore.” Yuta offers, swinging his torso side to side with his hands in his pockets. “You seem chill or whatever.” He punches his arm playfully. 

Doyoung picks it off with just his index and thumb, a raised eyebrow and side eye at Yuta. “Just chill?” He crosses his arms. 

“Well, you were pretty dry earlier so…” 

“I can show you more than just ‘chill’. I can show you a good time.” 

“Is that so?” Yuta licks his lips, stepping up to Doyoung. 

Doyoung steps closer, “I’m fun. Before I can show you, I recall something about new shoes?” 

—

Yuta did end up buying Doyoung a new pair of shoes and some socks, much to his surprise. Due to his own broke tendencies, he’s never experienced whipping out more than three pennies from his pocket. Nonetheless, he was still thankful and in debt (the older insisted that he didn’t want anything in return but still) to Yuta. He did regret not asking to buy it later since now he has to carry a box around in his arms. 

It wasn’t much, but having to switch from one arm to the other then in both and trying to balance it on his head was too much. He declined Yuta’s offer to take the box several times, knowing that Yuta could tell he was getting frustrated with it, but not wanting to seem like a bitch. What’s a tiny box of Adidas to a 6 foot tall man? Nothing. But what’s a tiny box of Adidas to a 6 foot tall man with not a lot of arm strength? Everything. He just wants to chuck it in the air and hope it lands at the house. 

“Give it to me.” Yuta tries to take the box but Doyoung holds it tighter. 

“I got it. You think I can’t handle this little thing?” 

“Oh, I know you can. Just not today.” Yuta chuckles and Doyoung chuckles along fakely, “just give it to me.” 

“I got it!” He stomps his foot softly. 

Yuta smiles fondly, “Just give it to me. I know your arms are tired.” His tone is calming and Doyoung finally gives in, but not without a very not scary glare and ‘hmph.’ “That wasn’t so hard, was it now, Doyoungie?” 

“Don’t call me that.” He rubs his arm, looking down at the floor. His shadow nearly blended in with the darkening floor. 

“What? Doyoungie? You don’t like it? Oh, I know! You love it!” Yuta coos. 

“Shut up.” 

“You do love it! Don’t you, Doyoungie?” 

“I said to shut up.” 

“Has anyone ever told you you’re so pretty, Doyoungie? Eh?” Yuta tickles under his chin.

Doyoung grunts, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, I know. I said stop calling me that.”

“How bout it’s for our ears only?” Yuta asks. “It’s Doyoungie just between the both of us.” 

“There won’t be a between both of us again.” Doyoung looks down. “Would there?”

“Of course there would, Doyoungie. So for our ears only?” Yuta holds a soft gaze with Doyoung. Doyoung nods, to which Yuta smiles slowly. 

“Fine.” He mumbles with a matching smile. 

“Great. Now I’m in the mood for Olive Garden, you want some Olive Garden?” 

“How much money do you have?”


	15. sweet.

Johnny may not know everything at all times but he does know where his friends are. He has an internal radar that gives him a clear idea of where they are, and because he knows them so well, he’s usually right. But now, he can’t have a clue where they are. He has no clue where anyone was. He woke up late as all hell and he guesses Doyoung had enough with him so he let him be late (which wasn’t all that bad since he got two hours extra sleep.)

Two hours of extra sleep meant only two hours left of class and he would’ve stayed home just becuase he practically missed all day, but he knew it would be better to show up even just for a bit. He hasn’t yet stepped in class, he was more so wandering around. He knows he should just head in but right now, it didn’t really matter all that much. He just hopes he doesn’t get caught by anyone. 

He nearly trips over a spare can, leaning down to throw it out in trash. “For fucks sake– Shit!” He screeches as a loud cough erupts from behind him. Johnny turns around to face Ten, who looked like pure shit. “Ten?” 

“Hey.” He sniffles. 

“Oh my gosh, you look like ass!” Johnny blurts, then realizes what he said. “Not that it’s bad because ass is cute, well yours is. Not that I’ve been staring but you’re not looking ugly, you never do! I should shut up.” 

“No, don’t. Listening to you talk is taking my mind off the feeling in my fucking chest. I’m so congested right now.” 

“Why are you even here?” 

“I thought I’d be okay enough to show up, but now I can’t go back because everyone else is in class and I don’t have the keys to my house or the willpower to even walk there.” 

“You could stay at mine. Just until your friends can come get you.” Johnny offers. 

Ten pulls out a water bottle, “Really? Don’t you have class?” He raises an eyebrow, as he usually when he picks up a tone.

“I actually haven’t went to class. I woke up late and showed up just because. You just gave me a reason to go back home.” Johnny places his hand out for Ten to take mindlessly, “Come on.” 

——

Johnny could get used to the sight of Ten in his hoodies. The other looked so tiny in them, this time it was a dark blue hoodie that wasn’t as big as the other but still made Ten look as cute as could be. Johnny was ultimately soft right now.

“What?” Ten grumbles, coughing into a mini towel Johnny gave him (which he could keep because Johnny surely didn’t want it back.) 

“What?” Johnny crosses his arm, smiling fondly at the miserable boy. Ten pouts and curls onto his side, laying his hands under his head. “Can’t look at you?” 

“No. I look ugly as fuck.” 

“Ah, don’t say that. You’re still cute.” Johnny enters, sitting on the edge and laying his hand over Ten’s body for support. 

Ten blushes, “Shut up. You’re just gassing me.” 

“Isn’t that my job?” Johnny coos, brushing Ten’s out of his face. 

“I just realized you can’t kiss me.” Ten mutters, making a smile creep onto Johnny’s face. Johnny heard him perfectly, but just for the fun of it, he’ll pretend to be hard of hearing. 

“You said what?”

“I said,” Ten pushes his face into the pillow, “you can’t kiss me.” 

“I can’t hear you~” 

“I said you can’t kiss me!” Ten says for Johnny to hear him, the blatant discontent evident in his voice. “Mayhaps that sucks.” 

“You just admitted you like kissing me.” 

“And what about it? I can say the same for you.” 

“I’ve been caught.” Johnny laughs, Ten joining in. His face contorts from one of contentment to discomfort, wordlessly letting Johnny know he’s in pain. “Where does it hurt?” 

“I’m okay.” 

“Where?” He insists. He knows that Ten wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer anyway. “I can’t give you any more medicine. Is there anything you want?” Of all the medicines Johnny had, only two would’ve helped Ten and he had already reached his intake limit for the night. There was only so much Johnny could do.

“Maybe some cuddles?” Ten scrunches his lips to the side, before smiling mischievously. He shimmies back to leave Johnny open space, which he lays into perfectly. Their faces were level with each other, mirroring one other’s position. It was only so long ago Johnny wouldn’t even imagine looking Ten in the eye for too long, but now he didn’t want to look anywhere else. He couldn’t. “I don’t think this counts as cuddling.” Johnny chuckles. 

“Oh? Then what does?” 

“We have to touch,” Johnny waits for Ten’s response. Ten raises his eyebrows softly, so he proceeds. “Like this.” He rests his hand on Ten’s waist. 

“Is that so? I don’t think that counts either, unless I do this.” Ten snuggles into Johnny’s chest, holding his waist tightly. Johnny loses a sense of time, unsure of how long he had been holding Ten. Ten was long gone, completely asleep and snoring. Had it not been for his fear of waking Ten up, he would’ve went to grab his phone from the kitchen to take a picture. 

Gradually, Ten had pulled himself closer and closer to Johnny, nearly pulling himself on top of him. Johnny wouldn’t mind it, but he’s too close to the edge to risk the extra weight. Ten grips his hoodie in his small hands, eyebrows furrowing as he mumbles incoherently. Johnny wasn’t sure if he was awake or not. 

“Ten?” He says cautiously, but Ten doesn’t answer. Instead, he continues grumbling and thrashing about. “Ten, what’s wrong?” 

Ten whines back, closing his eyes hard. His body shakes against Johnny’s, and Johnny swears he sees tears falling out his eyes. Inevitably, worry fills him to the brim. There was no knowledge to what was happening or how to handle it, so of course, Johnny was panicking. He sat up on his elbow, then flipping onto his knees at lightning speed. Ten reached around, trying to get ahold of something, so Johnny slipped his hand into his. 

This is fine, he thinks, I can work one–handed. He slides one arm under Ten’s body and lifts him into his chest. What the fuck am I doing, Johnny cusses internally as he maneuvers Ten’s body into his lap. He lays back cautiously against headboard, caressing Ten’s head into the crook of his neck. 

He surely hated silence but right now, he preferred much over the soft sound of Ten sniffling. “Hey, hey, it’s okay.” He coos, watching Ten drift off into a calmer state of sleep. “There you go.” 

Johnny brushes a piece of hair from his face. Finally, Ten looks peaceful. He feels as Ten’s heartbeat slows down, while his speeds up.


	16. sweet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for the kudos, hits, and comments !! i especially enjoy reading the comments so be sure to leave some to let me know if u like the story !!

There was a rule at school that if you left home early due to illness, you couldn’t come back until a full 24 hours passed. With that said, Ten didn’t have to go to school. He wasn’t complaining about that. He was complaining that since Johnny wasn’t sick, he had to go to school. Johnny wasn’t sure when he’d hear the end of it. 

“You can’t just take one day off?” Ten rolls onto his back, pushing himself off the armrest of the couch. Johnny grabbed a water bottle out of the closet ans turned to see Ten placing his arms on the floor and flipping onto his feet. 

“I wish I could. As much as I want to, I don’t want to make this a habit.” Johnny explains as clearly as he can, but he already knows it wouldn’t be enough to stop Ten’s whining. Ten fiddled with the hem of Johnny’s sweater (it was the smallest Johnny could find and he was also wearing Mark’s pants, which seemed to fit him better than any of Johnny’s.) “What?” Johnny pushes his glasses up his nose.

“Is there anything to eat?” 

“I don’t know. I don’t usually eat breakfast much, but I’ll check.” Johnny scans the closets and fridge. All they had were graham crackers and fruit strips in the closet, and milk and eggs in the fridge. “There’s eggs. I can’t cook but if you want some, I can maybe try t–“ 

“No thanks.” 

“As I figured. We can just stop by the cafe on the way to your house, because I still have to drop you off.” Ten nods as a response, a pout evident on his face. Johnny wraps an arm around his shoulder, squeezing him. “Aww, you’re gonna miss me that much?” 

“I’m not.” Ten mutters. 

“Sure you aren’t.” Johnny coos, pinching Ten’s cheek. He skips off to the front door to slip on his shoes and grabs his keys, Ten following suit. He feels Ten grab onto the back of his shirt, so he turns around. “What’s wrong?”

“A bitch gotta eat.”

——

“You’re going to be late.” 

“You didn’t even want me to go to school and now you’re nagging me to hurry up? Make up your mind.” Johnny remarks, earning a playful slap on his arm from Ten. 

“Shut up.” Ten sniffles before taking a bite out of much better prepared eggs than what Johnny could’ve made. Johnny grins at him, understanding how hungry he really was. Memories of the night before arise in his mind, making his smile fall. He’d much rather forget about it, but at the same time, he just wanted to ask. He wanted to know, but he didn’t want to hit a soft spot. Ten’s smile drops as he catches his eye, “What?”

“Ten, do you– do you have nightmares?” Johnny whispers. Ten simply stares at him, expression unreadable, sighing. He rubs his temple with one hand. “I’m sorry, did I–“

“You didn’t.” Ten snaps, but Johnny just knows he doesn’t mean it. Out of instinct, he takes Ten’s hand into his. 

“We don’t have to talk about it.” 

“Thank you.” 

“Johnny hyung? What are you doing here?” Chenle’s voice comes from behind him. Johnny turns to face him and pulls away from Ten’s hand in the process, fondly smiling to him. The fondness in Johnny’s smile was radiating. 

“Chenle? What are you doing here?” 

“I asked you first!” Chenle laughs. 

“I asked you second.” 

“Fine, you caught me.” Johnny pouts playfully, scooting over and patting the hard red seat, “you can sit. I’m taking my–“ Johnny motions to Ten. Ten was his what? Surely, they weren’t dating. Boyfriends (cross out.) They were friends...that kiss. Is that even allowed? There weren’t any guidelines to what friends could or couldn’t do, right? 

“Friend. I’m Ten.” Ten finishes his sentence, confidence radiating from his answer. Johnny looked down. “I’d shake your hand but I don’t wanna get you sick.”

“That is okay. I understand.” Chenle laughs cutely, turning his body to face Johnny. “Hyung, I need help. Is that okay?”

“You know I got you. Tell me what’s up.” It was obvious that Johnny had a soft spot for the younger boy, even from the frisbee incident. Chenle had done much for Johnny without even knowing; he gave him and his friends an unintentional (but basically official) hangout spot, gave him the experience of having a small younger brother since Johnny grew up without it, and gave him a feeling of pride, knowing that Chenle trusted his judgement.

Chenle nibbles on his lip, “I do not know how to word it. Very hard.”

“Throw things out. I’ll put em out.” 

“Well, there is a person I like. Like,, very like. I see hi– them and my heart goes,” Chenle puts his hand under his sweatshirt and pushes it out repeatedly. Johnny chuckles, urging him to go on. “There is an issue. I do not know if they like me,, or boys in general. Is it okay to like boys?”

“Of course it is.” Johnny doesn’t hesitate. “I mean, I like a boy. A lot.” He looks to Ten, who avoids his gaze but Johnny could see his ears turning an embarrassingly bright shade of red. “There’s nothing wrong with it. Describe him to me.” 

“He is in my English and math class at school. He is very tall with big hands and a deep voice. He helps me after school with math. He is so kind to me and he likes to bring me chocolates. He laughs at all my jokes too.” Chenle’s cheek crunch up tightly as his smile takes over his entire face. “I am rambling?” 

“No, no. You know, this reminds of exactly how Mark was when he was crushing on Yukhei. Ah, young love.” Johnny sighs dreamily, off into the distance. When he drifts back, both Chenle and Ten staring at him like he was a mad man. He clears his throat, “Anyways, I got to get going. Here you go.” Johnny places a twenty and ten on the table. 

“It was only $20?” Chenle prepares to hand the extra money back, but Johnny stops him. 

“Keep it. Come on, Ten.” He slides out the booth, holding his hands in the front pocket of the sweater. “Bye, Chenle. Good luck with your lover boy.” 

Chenle blushes, dismissing them before disappearing from where he came earlier. With only a ding to announce their departure, the cafe was once again empty. 

—

“Kun is home.” Ten mumbles as they pull into his driveway. 

“You sound like you don’t wanna go home.” Johnny raises his eyebrow, turning to face him entirely. Ten slumps deeper into his seat. “Or? You just don’t wanna leave me?” 

“Shut up.” 

“Ding ding ding! I’m really fucking late, but I’ll walk you to your door.” They exit their sides, Johnny leading Ten up to his front door as promised. 

“Open up, whore! I’m back!” Ten pounds the door with his small fist. Johnny engulfs Ten into a hug, which the other returns back. Without a second thought, Johnny presses a kiss to his head. When the door pulls open, Ten pulls away. 

Johnny scratches his head, “Uh, you can keep the sweater. You already got all your cooties stuck on it.”

“You want my cooties.” Ten sticks his tongue out at Johnny. 

“I don’t. Hi, I’m Johnny.” Johnny sticks out his hand to Kun. The other receives it cautiously. 

“Kun. Thanks for caring for this brat.”

“My pleasure.” 

“Hey!” 

“I really gotta go, so bye guys. I hope you feel better, I’ll call you later?”

Ten smiles and nods, “Yea.”


	17. bitter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took rly long lmaooooo but uh ENJOY ;) drop those kudos and comments fellas

“I cannot believe you don’t like Yes or Yes! You know, this is enough to break up with you!” Mark reprimands Yukhei. 

“We don–“

Mark cuts him off, fume visible from his ears, “I don’t get it! How the fuck could you not like that song! I mean, yeah, the mini album itself isn’t all that great but the song, Yukhei, the song!“ It was pretty obvious that Mark was a dedicated Once and even though Yukhei himself liked Twice, he was the Orbit of all Orbits. He’d rather pop in a headphone and listen to favOriTe than listen to Mark yap about how Yes or Yes ‘saved the Kpop industry.’ If anything, Hi High did that.

“What do you want me to do? Listen to it over and over? Sorry, baby, but I’d only listen to love4eva that many times.” Yukhei sighs. He turns to place his elbows comfortably on the dinner table, scrolling through his Twitter timeline.

“But…” He could practically hear the pout in Mark’s voice. Out of pure instinct, he turns back halfway, patting his lap for Mark to sit. The younger gladly takes his place, wrapping his arm around the back of Yukhei’s neck. 

“Calm down. It’s just a song.” Yukhei chuckles, playfully pulling at Mark’s bottom lip. “Besides, we should both acknowledge that Ooh Ahh is Twice’s best song.” 

“What the literal fuck Yukhei! I thought we agreed on TT?” Mark rolls his eyes. Pure annoyance was seeping through his normally calm expression.

“A while ago…but I opened my eyes to the truth.” Yukhei masks his sentence under the fakest cough. When he meets Mark’s eyes, he felt as he might as well burn his other Twice albums. He smiles dumbly, hoping it would be enough to dissolve Mark’s harsh gaze. 

“Do you— do you take me as a joke?”

“No–“

“But I do.” Yukhei and Mark snap their heads to the sound of Doyoung, slumping out of the hallway. “I was hoping to sleep in, but your annoying asses couldn’t wait to argue for over an hour any other time? You guys are tripping.” 

“Well, I’m sorry that Mr. Ooh Ahh and Yes or Yes hater doesn’t know good music.” Mark remarks, rolling his eyes.

“I never said I hated it! You’re taking things out of context!”

“How ‘bout you both just agree on a song and call it a day?” Doyoung grunts. Mark and Yukhei grumble under their breaths, but Doyoung hears them agree silently on Dance The Night Away. He rolls his eyes and enters the kitchen to prepare his breakfast. 

He could’ve just made some cereal, but there wasn’t any of the brand he liked. He settled on some boiled eggs and toast. Propping himself onto a stool by the island table, waiting for the food to finish. His focus is stolen by the door opening. 

It’s Jaehyun. “Hey. What’s cooking?” The younger smiles sleepily, pulling his hoode off his head and ruffling out his hair with his hand. 

“Boiled eggs and toast. Want some?” 

“Nah, it’s all good.” Jaehyun sits across from Doyoung, placing his folded hands on the table. “Doie, I need help.”

“With what?” 

“I wanna ask Sicheng out, but I don’t know how.” 

Doyoung gulps softly, then his mouth goes dry. He looked down as if to ponder ideas. He knew Jaehyun liked Sicheng, and it was inevitable that Jaehyun would want to ask him out but Doyoung would’ve preferred him ask someone else. It was hard suppressing feelings for a friend’s sake. He breathes in deeply. 

“Take him out to his favorite place and ask him there. I don’t know…” Doyoung plays with his fingers. 

“Cmon, you gotta have something in that beautiful brain of yours.” Jaehyun smiles, his dimple popping up. 

Doyoung sighs, defeated. “Sing to him.” 

“He’s never heard me sing before.” 

“Exactly. Makes it even more special.” The toaster dings, and Doyoung wastes no time hurrying over to fix his plate. “I’m sure he’ll love it.” 

“Thanks, Doie. You’re the best.” Within seconds, Jaehyun is gone. Like he was never there. 

——

“Are you guys going on a date?” Doyoung asks hopefully, Mark and Yukhei nodding cautiously. “Great! I’m going too.” 

“Bu–“

“I’ll pay for your meal.”

“Get your shoes on.” Yukhei snaps at him, Doyoung pointing finger guns at him cheekily. 

“Hey, Doyoung!” Doyoung turns to Jaehyun’s voice. “Sicheng wants to go out for ice cream, you wanna come with? He said he wants to meet you properly.” 

“Oh. I was already gonna go out with Mark and Yukhei though.” He looks back hopelessly, Mark sharing a worried gaze with Yukhei. They needed a plan and fast. Mark hurries to Doyoung’s side. “He can’t. He already promised to take me and Yuck out to eat. Sorry.” 

“Oh ok. Maybe next time, then?” Jaehyun smiles. 

“Definitely.”

“Pinky it.” Jaehyun places his hand out, leaving Doyoung no choice but to stress over a now surefire meeting with Sicheng all day. Doyoung gives an uneasy smile, but he links their pinkies together anyways. “Great. Have fun!” Jaehyun disappears into the hallway. 

“Doyoung...”

“Let’s just go.”

——

Doyoung like to stress eat. You wouldn’t have been able to tell that eating was his mechanism by his ridiculously sexy build, but it was. On the regular he was composed and just ignored his cravings, but right now, three plates of fettucine were about to be demolished when their orders arrived. His mouth was watering so much that if his lips were parted, a waterfall of drool would flow out. 

“Here are your fettucine alfredos, shrimp pasta and chicken noodle.” The server sets the food down, then splits the three plates for the three of them. 

“Excuse me, all three are for me.”

“Oh? Sir, are you sure you could eat all this?”

“I ordered it, didn’t I? Please just hand over the fettucine.” 

The server looks taken aback, but puts all three plates side by side in front of Doyoung. “As you wish.” Doyoung raises his eyebrows at her, smiling as he begins to take in his first bite. 

He hated feelings. He hated feeling things. He didn’t even want to address his feelings for Jaehyun, but he knew there was no way around it. His beautiful eyes, his addictive laugh, his deep dimples; Doyoung had fallen for those first, so he thought it was just a looks kind of thing. But eventually, he had found himself falling for Jaehyun’s comedic nature, heartwarming kindness and friendliness. 

But the thing was that Doyoung was always aware of Jaehyun being that way. So why had developing feelings become an issue? He didn’t know, and he wishes he did but there was nothing to tell him where he went wrong. Crushing on your best friend isn’t something anyone wants to go through. And even worse, Doyoung knew that Jaehyun would never view him otherwise. He hates every second of it. 

“Doie?“ Mark asks softly, laying a hand on his for comfort. It was when Yukhei wiped a tissue under his eye that he knew why. He looks down at his second plate, more than half finished. Doyoung pushes it away, chewing down his last bite. “Are you okay?” 

“I’m perfect. It’s okay.” Doyoung dismisses Mark and Yukhei’s worried gazes with a unnerving smile, wiping under his eyes. “What else should we do?”

“Doy–“

“What else should we do!” Doyoung repeats louder, forcing his tone to be peppy. It was unlike him. “I’m not full enough to go home! We still have all day!” 

“Doyoung? Oh my gosh, what are you doing here?” Doyoung turns his head to the cheery voice. 

“Jeno? Hey!” He scurries to his feet to embrace the younger, feeling his mood lift upon seeing him. This was what he needed. “I came out to eat with these whores.” He gestures to Mark and Yukhei. 

“Shut the fuck up.” Yukhei and Mark snap, both rolling their eyes playfully. 

“Come on, sit here.” Doyoung slides to the end, opening up space for Jeno to sit. Words couldn’t describe how happy he was to see him. Doyoung grew up an only child, up until his aunt got pregnant with Jeno. Technically, they were cousins, but fuck technicalities, as far as he was concerned, Jeno is his little brother. Jeno sits, unable to keep a smile off his face. “What’s got you grinning like a bitch?” 

“My boyfriend,,” Jeno mutters, Doyoung raising his eyebrows in shock. 

“Since when! Why didn’t you tell me?” He groans and pinches Jeno’s ear, earning an annoyed whine. 

“I knew you’d overreact, so I waited. We’ve been together for like a month.” 

“What! You fat bitch!” Doyoung smacks Jeno’s thigh. “What’s his name?” 

“Huang Renjun. He’s the cutest boy on the planet.” Yukhei scoffs, “What?”

“My Mark is the cutest boy on the planet.” 

“Which planet? Mars?”

“Every single one.” Yukhei leans in threateningly. 

“Oh yeah? In your dreams.” 

“Fine! Let’s fight.” 

“You’re on.” Jeno and Yukhei grab hands, “One, Two, Three, Four, I declare a thumb war.” They chant in unison, grunting endlessly to make their struggles known. Doyoung curses under his breath, while Mark cheers him on. Doyoung eventually becomes Jeno’s hypeman. 

Jeno wins, but Doyoung isn’t surprised. “Anyways! I wanted to go on a date with him, but he wanted to meet you and I want him to meet you, so do you think you could come?”

Doyoung raises an eyebrow, almost offended that Jeno would assume he wouldn’t wanna go. “Of course, I’ll go.”

“Fuck yeah! I really can’t wait for you to meet him, he’s the fucking best. Him and his little snaggletooth.” Jeno coos more to himself than to others. 

“Do you think we should leave now? We stil have other places to go.” Mark sighs boredly, looking at his well taken care of nail beds. 

“You’re right. Let me just take this to go.” Doyoung calls for a waiter, picking up the other’s gazes on him. “What? A prepacked, free stress meal for later? I’m taking it.”


	18. sweet.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorry for such slow updates tbh i forget to write my chapters🤡🤡🤡 but i ill try my best to be more frequent w these updates kudos and comments are appreciated and always welcome

 

 

Johnny preferred texting over calling. There were only a select few people he enjoy talking to over the phone, such as his parents or his close friends. Even those people he texted more than called. He was never expectant of phone calls, so when Ten called him, he was more than surprised.

 

Him and Ten don’t text much as it is, compared to how often they see each other but Ten had never called before. He stared at the screen, his contact photo of an off guard staring right back at him. Why would Ten call him? It’s either a butt dial or Ten is calling for help because a kidnapper is holding him hostage and had only allowed one call. Johnny shudders at the thought. Well you dipshit, answer the call and find out! his conscience reminds him.

 

“Hey.” He breathes out.

 

“Hey Johnny! Fuck off, Haechan! Can I please just talk to him! Sorry,” Ten goes on mute for a second.

 

“You sound like you’re struggling.” Johnny chuckles.

 

“I am.” His voice comes back. “Which is why I called instead of texted. Listen, Taeyon– And us too! Fine, my friends want you to come over for dinner.”

 

He chokes on his spit. “What? Me? When!”

 

“They were thinking Saturday.”

 

“Saturday? I can do Saturday!” Johnny tried to contain his excitement but he could tell Ten sensed it by the way he laughed into the phoe. “How should I dress?”

 

“It doesn’t matter. You could wear a trash bag and they’d still be fascinated with you.” Ten mutters.

 

“Do you talk about me?”

 

Ten’s line goes silent, until a higher pitched voice fills in the lack of speech. “He does! He says you’re very cute!”

 

“Oh? Do you now?” Johnny bites back a smile, but he can’t ignore the heat on his ears. He’s glad Ten isn’t here to see it.

 

“Haechan, I’m gonna beat your ass! And so w–what! Mayhaps you are, that shouldn’t be news to you.”

 

“I mean, I thought I was the cutest until I met you.”

 

“Is that so? Do I get a reward for being the cutest?”

 

“Maybe you do.” Johnny doesn’t think before he adds, “Come over and you can redeem it.”

 

“I’m on my fucking way. See you in 15.”

 

————

 

Fifteen was an overstatement. Ten was there in seven, eight minutes tops. He was out of breath when Johnny opened the door, but he tried to playit off by leaning the door frame with his arm over his head. “Hey, good looking. You, uh, come here often?”

 

“I live here. Get inside, it’s cold out.” Johnny grabs Ten’s wrist. “How the hell are you wearing such thin clothes in this weather?” A pair of jeans and button up was Ten’s usual get up, but for some reason, he had chosen black ripped jeans and a thin purple button up that was unbuttoned to the third button.

 

“Johnny, sweetheart. No one ever told that a hoe never gets cold?” Ten pats his cheek, before trailing off to Johnny’s couch. He closed the door and follows Ten, sitting on his leg and facing Ten. “So what’s my reward?”

 

“What do you want it to be?”

 

“I mean, I’m kinda hungry,,” Ten tries.

 

“I’d love you to treat you, Ten, but I’m fucking broke right now.” Johnny laughs. “How ‘bout a kiss, free of charge.”

 

Ten smiles, “I’ll take that. I don’t have any flavored chapstick on.”

 

“We’re going still doing that?”

 

“Are we not?”

 

“I mean you were sick for two weeks so...”

 

“Doesn’t matter right now,” Ten dismisses it, crawling onto Johnny’s lap and entwining his hands behind Johnny’s neck, “What matters is me getting my smooch. Yeah?”

 

Johnny pulls him closer by placing his hands on Ten’s waist, looking up at him. He always enjoyed kissing Ten, but lately he’s thinking over how Ten always took control. He wanted to take control too. Maybe now was a good time to do it. There wasn’t time to think. So he went in for it.

 

Ten kept kisses fast paced but Johnny had come to enjoy slower kisses. He could feel Ten’s confusion in the way he tensed up, so Johnny rubbed his back. He pulled away, “Just relax, Ten.”

 

“Okay.” He answers breathlessly. Johnny leans in, this time more confident. He feels Ten’s thumb caress just under his ear, making him feel more at ease. Ten shuffles to get closer to Johnny, leaving no space between their bodies.

 

“Oh? Ok Johnny, I see you!” Yukhei’s goofy voice sounds. Johnny can’t believe he didn’t hear the door unlocking.

 

“Fuck.” Johnny whispers.

 

Ten pulls away, “Why not give em a show?” He captures Johnny’s lips again. Johnny grabs hid chin and pulls him off.

 

“I’ll never hear the end of this.” He mutters, helping Ten get off his lap.

 

“Oh my gosh, Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge!” Mark giggled, Yukhei and Ten’s echoing like a chorus. “What? You don’t get it? Damnit, Johnny.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“That your lips are swollen, get with the program, sweetheart,” Ten says in the fakest tone ever while patting his back. “Maybe a bitch is hungry and cold, what can we do to handle this issue?” Mark looks at Yukhei, and Yukhei looks down at Mark, then they look at Johnny.

 

He sighs, “I’ll handle it or else he’ll become an issue. Come on.” He stares at Ten, who’s doing the flower pose as if he was such an angel, motioning for him to follow him. The smaller hurries past him and flops onto his bed. “Here. By the way, where’s my green hoodie?”

 

“Hehe,” Ten slides the hoodie over, revealing a sheepish smile, “can I keep that? Just that one, I’ll never take any home.”

 

“So you stole it.”

 

“That’s harsh, I’d like to say that I borrowed it. And besides, you gave that to me to wear!”

 

“And give back.”

 

“Well, that part wasn’t mentioned,,” Ten mumbles, then jumps onto his feet. He walks slowly, hands behind his back until he slides thrm up Johnny’s side to entwine their hands. “You won’t hold that over my head forever, would you?” The second Ten’s bottom lip juts out, Johnny looks away.

 

“I won’t.” He grumbles. “But you’re practically a thief.”

 

“That makes two of us.”

 

“What– how?”

 

“You’re a thief because you stole my heart.” There’s a moment of silence, Johnny processing the well set up joke. It was so cheesy that Johnny couldn’t even laugh, but Ten sure could. It started out a soft giggle before it turned into a full blown hyuckle. He covers his mouth with his hands as he topples over in laughter.

 

Johnny cracks a smile; not at the crappy joke, but at Ten cheesing the hardest he’s ever seen. “You think you’re a comedian?”

 

“It was– it was funny! Cmon!” Ten uses Johnny’s legs as a support to get back up.

 

“Anyways,” Johnny flops onto his bed, laying his head on his crossed arms and facing the TV on the wall ahead. He feels the bed dip with Ten’s weight before the younger lays next to him, copying his position.

 

“I have chapstick on.”

 

“Which one?” Johnny asks.

 

“Hm,” Ten giggles for the nth time, “only one way to find out.” Johnny wasn’t sure if there’d be a day where he would be tired of hearing him giggle. Ten props himself on his elbows, leaning down to meet Johnny’s lips.

 

Sure, it was an awkward position but that thought couldn’t overpower the sparkles in his body that get set off every time they kiss. He could give a damn about a chapstick flavor and he was sure Ten felt the same. That dreaded moment of pulling away was inevitable, but so was those two minutes, give or take, where Johnny would just stare at him. It was those two minutes, give or take, where Johnny would just take in Ten, awestruck by him.

 

Ten smiles, wordlessly telling Johnny where he wanted to be. Johnny adjusts himself to a position where Ten could easily slide into his embrace. Johnny wraps a protective arm around Ten, and in return, Ten snuggles deeper into him.

 

After that, there wasn’t a single word muttered. There didn’t need to be.


	19. bitter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i havwnt updated in a month🗿🗿 im so sorry the next chapter will be up vv soon

Doyoung had never really experienced third wheeling. There was always a fourth or fifth wheel that he could become a pair of. This time was the dreadful exception. Here he sat in the cozy restaurant, waiting for Sicheng with an overly giddy Jaehyun. He felt bad but he couldn’t just deny the fact that he did not wanna be here.

Still, he swallowed down his growing desperation to leave and forced a soft smile. Each question Jaehyun threw his way, he gave a short answer, not wanting to accidentally slip up with all the thoughts racing crazily in his mind. Suddenly, Jaehyun grabs his hand, messing his thumbs.

“Sorry I’m so hyper, I’m just excited that two people I love are meeting today.” Doyoung nodded. It was always nice hearing love from Jaehyun but the nice feeling was followed by the pain from the fact that it was friendly love. Doyoung knew the love here Jaehyun implied for Sicheng was the love he wished for. Still, he smiles. 

“I know. I’m excited to meet him too.” 

“And by the way, he’s bringing his cousin. I forgot why but I hope that’s not an issue.” 

“It won’t, don’t worry.” Doyoung gives him a thumbs up. 

“Great,” His voice dings and Doyoung can’t help but glance at the screen. Crowded with heart emojis is ‘Baby,’ which Doyoung can only imagine is Sicheng. “He’s here, I’ll go get him.” Jaehyun slides out the booth, hurrying to the front door of the diner. 

Doyoung runs a hand through his hair, sighing. If there was anything he wanted, it was to not feel this way. He felt horrible for not feelig good about this because what if Sicheng was a good guy? What if he was truly the man Jaehyun deserved? Doyoung surely didn’t have what Sicheng had if Jaehyun adored him so much /more./ He inhaled deeply, looking back to see Sicheng and Jaehyun walking towards the booth with the widest of smiles. Doyoung doesn’t think he could recall a moment where Jaehyun looked happier than when he looked at Sicheng. 

Behind the two, a small, brunette trails awkwardly looking around. He looks oddly familiar but Doyoung couldn’t pinpoint where he’d seen him. 

“Doyoung, this is Sicheng. Sicheng, Doyoung.” Jaehyun grins, so Doyoung does the same to seem as kind as he could. 

“Hi.” 

“Hi, Doyoung.” Sicheng says in a thick accent, brushing his black hair behind his ear. “This is my cousin, Renjun.” He pulls the mentioned in front by his shoulders. 

Doyoung scanned over Renjun, the feeling of familiarity overwhelming him. The younger had an uncomfy smile, revealing a small snaggletooth. Before Doyoung could think, he blurts, “Oh my gosh, you’re dating Jeno!”

Renjun furrows his eyebrows, “You know him?” 

“I’m Doyoung! His cousin?” Doyoung says, motioning to himself. Upon seeing Renjun’s confused expression, he feels bad for blurting out at him but it disappears once the other grins. 

“He talks about you all the time! It’s nice to finally meet you.” 

“I know right, he was telling me something about getting us all together to meet but seems we don’t need to worry about that right now.” Renjun slides into the booth, smile ear to ear. “He’ll be lowkey upset when he hears we hung out without him.”

“Jeno’s a baby like that.” Renjun rolls his eyes with annoyance but his soft pink cheeks and smile show adoration. 

“Speaking of baby, now’s the perfect time to show you some of his baby pictures. He was a lil chunky.”

“You’ve gotta send them to me.” 

“Sure, what’s you–“

“Ahem.” Jaehyun clears his throat. Doyoung had nearly forgotten that Sicheng and Jaehyun were there. “Sorry to interrupt your catching up, but Sicheng and I are ready to order. Are you?” 

“I deadass forgot we came here to eat.” Doyoung sighs, unaware of the cuss word that flows so smoothly out of his mouth. Sicheng’s face turns into confusion, looking to Jaehyun for translation and Jaehyun looking at Doyoung with an unreadable expression. “Sorry .. anyways, I could eat. Can I see the menu?” 

Jaehyun hands it over and puts all his attention back on Sicheng, completely lost in the younger’s presence. Doyoung scans over the basic fonts and edited photos of food, trying to figure out what to get. It was a challenge the best looking and cheapest since he /knew/ Jaehyun would pay. He didn’t want to empty his wallet. 

“The triple bacon burger is really good.” Renjun’s small finger covers the upper parts of the menu to point out the meal he mentioned. It does, in fact, look good. “I’m getting it too.”

“You eat here a lot?” 

“Not really, but Jeno’s always stopping by to bring me something on his way home from things.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” He turns to Jaehyun, “Renjun and I are ready to order.” 

“Good. We’ll just wait for the waiter to come back around.”

Renjun snickers. “Wait for the waiter. If we’re the ones waiting on the waiter, aren’t we the waiters?”

“Oh God, shut up, Renjun.” Sicheng furrows his eyebrows, rubbing his temples with frustration from his younger cousin. The other just ignores and laughs hysterically at his own joke. “I don’t understand how you think you’re so funny.”

“You’re just mad that no one thinks you’re funny.”

“People do think I’m funny! Right, Jae?” Sicheng turns to him, hoping for a good response.

“You are .. sometimes.” 

“Hey!”

Doyoung laughs behind his palm, “You know, that reminds me of a joke Yuta would make.” The table goes silent and the mood shifts obviously. Sicheng’s previously happy expression turns unreadable. Doyoung looks at Renjun then Jaehyun, who seem to share the same face.

“So you and Yuta, eh?” Sicheng raises an eyebrow. 

“We’re just talking.” 

“Do you like him?” The blunt question catches Doyoung offguard. He doesn’t like him like that, they’re just starting to become close. He considers Yuta a very good friend.

“No, of course not. We’re only friends.” 

“Would you ever like him?” Jaehyun furrows his eyebrows, but Sicheng gives Doyoung a look that insists he answers. 

Geez .. what’s with all the questions? “I don’t know, Sicheng. Maybe, because he’s a great guy.”

“Is he?” 

“Sicheng, why are you so worried about him?” Jaehyun intervenes, touching his arm softly.

Doyoung frowns, sitting up straight, “He is, without a doubt. Listen, I don’t know what went on between you two but I’m stopping you now. I won’t let you talk shit about my friend.”

Before Sicheng can insert a snarky remark, Doyoung’s phone rings, bringing a familiar face to mind. What great timing. He picks it up without hesitation, turning to the wall to muffle his conversation. 

“Hey Doyoung! Do you prefer sandwiches or burgers?”

“Why are you asking? What’s the difference?”

“Just choose one! I’ll explain later, but I need you to meet me at the park in like an hour.” 

“Are you taking me on a picnic, Yuta?” 

The silence on the end gives him his answer. “Way to ruin the fun! It was supposed to be a surprise.” 

“Do you want me to act surprised when I show up?”

“That would be awesome, but you didn’t answer my question.”

“What qu– oh. Uhm, burgers. Do you want me to bring anything?”

“Just your cute ass and everything else will be on me. Maybe that ass too.” Doyoung hurries to turn the volume down, hoping no one else at the table heard Yuta’s rather vulgar comment. His hopes are crushed when he hears Renjun giggle. 

“Shut up. I’ll see you in a little, now hang up.” 

“You first.” Yuta coos. Doyoung didn’t have time for the stupid ‘you first’ ‘no you first’ arguments. 

“Gladly. See you soon.” Doyoung ends the call, placing his phone in his pocket. He couldn’t miss the fiery glare in Sicheng’s eyes, but he knew he could damn well ignore it. 

“I think I’m ready to order.” Renjun smiles awkwardly, Jaehyun chuckling to add onto the tension in the atmosphere. 

“Me too. Sicheng?”

“I’ll have what Renjun is having.” Sicheng glares one more time before pursing a smile at Jaehyun. 

Doyoung sighs, running a hand through his hair.  
They hadn’t even started eating yet.


	20. bitter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a rly long chapter so theres a subtle pov switch in here !! and happy 20 chapters yurrr

Johnny wouldn’t say he was very fashionable. Some jeans or sweats and random tee shirt or hoodie was all he needed unless he was taking a shower or going to sleep. But this was different, he needed to pull all the fashion he had out of his ass to look as presentable as he could for this dinner. 

Johnny grunts, plopping onto his bed. He recalls Ten saying he didn’t need to be fancy. What was fancy? What wasn’t fancy? With another loud grunt, he rolls up and sits, playing with his growing hair. “Fuck. What do I do?”

“Let us help you.” Yukhei’s voice comes from afar. Johnny looks up to see him leaning against the doorframe with Mark crossing his arms. “We may not be good at math ..”

“But we can put two and two together and get you dressed to impress.” Mark walks in slowly with a raised eyebrow. Johnny looks him up and down, ears open to their offer. Surely, he’d go to Doyoung for clothing related issues but since he was out with Yuta at the amusement park, he had no other choice. He would’ve never asked Mark and Yukhei to help but desperate times call for desperate measures. 

“Listen .. I don’t trust your fashion sense after seeing you wear booty shorts with trash bags coming out the pockets to my cousin’s graduation party.” Johnny shudders at the memory while Yukhei chuckles.

“It was a dare!” The youngest stomps his foot with a whine. “I got $75 and a lil something else but! We don’t need to talk about that. Yukhei, look in his closet.” He snaps and Yukhei attends, rummaging through Johnny’s endless amount of hoodies. “So you said you’re eating at Ten’s? Great, what’d he say about how to dress?”

“Fancy, but not fancy. What does that mea– what the fuck!” Mark’s hand wrap around his, feelig through his hair. “Lee, what are you doing?”

“I’m feeling your aura, shhh! Yukhei, are you feeling it?”

“I’m feeling it, baby!” Yukhei yells from inside the closet. 

“Great. Give me some cool colors.” Mark pulls away with a grunt, wiping his forehead.” You’re too hot, Johnny.”

“Why thank yo–“

“I mean you’re warm as fuck, are you sick?” 

“I mean,” Johnny flips his hand on his forehead, “I got allergies but I don’t .. anyways, what does cool colors have to do with this?”

“You fool! Do you know nothing about fashion? This is just common sense, Seo! Keep up.” Yukhei comes out with three outfits. 

“Shut up before I beat your ass.”

“We have two outfits for you to try on and this is just sleeping clothes, I guess.”

“But I’m not sleeping over.”

“That’s what you say but just watch. You won’t wanna leave and Ten won’t let you leave. And if his friends are also his size, you’d have nothing to wear, but if you insist,” Mark pulls the sweats away slowly, but Johnny slaps his hand away. 

“Fine. Let me see this. Where’d you find this?”

“You have lots of dress shirts at the asscrack of your closet. This would look bomb as fuck.” Gesturing to a emerald green silk shirt, Yukhei sounded more genuine than usual. 

“Oh my fuck, I have been looking for this! I’m wearing this.” 

“Go ahead and get dressed then.” Johnny takes the outfit into the bathroom, slipping off his clothes and getting into the jeans. He avoided eye contact with himself, as he knew he’d be pink a the thought of dressing up for Ten. He’d never been so .. confused .. on what to wear before. Surely, Ten’s seen him in boxers and shirtless but those moments didn’t seem to matter.

Johnny was meeting people Ten considered important, and if they were important to Ten, then they were important to him. He had to make a good impression. He has no idea if they like him, despite the fact that Ten has talked about him to them. Even if he knows that, he doesn’t know what Ten’s told him. 

After buttoning the last button, he finally looks at himself in the rectangular bathroom. Johnny wasn’t one to hype himself, but he couldn’t help but think he looked hot as fuck. With the flick of the light switch, he steps out the bathroom.

“Ooh! You look sexy!” Mark claps excitedly.

“If I didn’t know you the way I did, I’d want your ass, no homo though.” Yukhei chuckles, making Mark roll his eyes. Johnny nods at the underlying compliment, inspecting himself in his mirror. He didn’t look half bad. 

Johnny pulled his jeans as high as they could go, tucking his shirt in and smoothing out any crinkles. Mark hands him his keys, phone and extra clothes, Johnny taking the items with careful hands. Mark slaps his ass, “Go get em, tiger!” Awkwardly laughing, Johnny turns away from Mark and Yukhei with a hand guarding his just previously slapped ass.

“We’re rooting for you!”

———

 

Johnny was rooting for himself. During the short 10 minute from his house to Ten’s, all he could think of was positive things. There wasn’t much he could fuck up .. right? Although he didn’t know much about Ten’s friends, they’d surely be as laid back (and sassy) as Ten. What if they weren’t? 

What if they were completely different from Ten? What if they didn’t like Johnny and took any chance to snip at him? Gosh, what if they were like hawks? What if– Johnny seemed to have lost his train of thought. He focused his full attention onto the road, not realizing he had turned onto Ten’s street. 

Ten was expecting his arrival, probably chilling on the couch with one of his hoodies in his arms ready to give to Joh– never mind. Chilling on the couch? Sounds like Ten, but givig the hoodies he stole? Let’s be realistic. When he rolled into the two car driveway, his grip on the wheel loosened as his palms seemed to grow sweaty. There was no going back now. 

He pulls the key out of the ignition and grabs just his phone, leaving the bag of clothes in the car. He’d get it if he needed it. Johnny looks up to the sky, ominous clouds rolling in. He hopes it doesn’t mean anything. The walk to Ten’s door seemed all too short but here he was, ringing the doorbell. 

The sound of clattering and yelling echoes from the other side. After ten more seconds of what sounds like chaos, the door opens to reveal a short male with honey brown hair. 

 

His smile is inviting for merely a second before he raises an eyebrow and leans against the door. Johnny doesn’t think much of it as he seems young. “You must be Johnny.”

“I am. Who are you?”

He seems offended by the way he gasps, “I’m appalled that Ten never talks about me to you.” 

“Let him in, Haechan! It’s about to rain.” He hears them before a black haired male pops up behind Haechan. He holds a mature, kind look. “Hi, Johnny. I’m Taeyong, come in.” Haechan moves out the way for Johnny to enter, slipping off his shoes. 

“Where’s Ten?”

“He’s prettying up.” 

“I thought Ten didn’t like when you said that.” Haechan mutters.

“Am I wrong?” Taeyong responds with bite, but it’s not intimidating for Johnny to change his assigned image of Taeyong’s personality. “Anyways, have a seat. I’ll let him know you’re here.”

“I know. He called me when he left his house.” Ten appears down the hallway, looking down at his pants while he fixed something on it. “Hey John– oh.” Ten stops as he scans over Johnny’s body. Johnny feels like prey under Ten’s gaze, which was practically unreadable. When their eyes meet, Johnny’s mind fills with ideas of what it could be but he pushes them away.

“Do I look that good?”

“You do. You always do, but I’ve never seen you in anything like this.” Ten smiles softly, wrapping his arms around Johnny’s waist, looking up at the older. 

“Thank you. I wasn’t sure if you’d like it.”

“Well, I do. You clean up nice, pretty boy.” Ten pats his cheek. 

“I cannot /believe/ he’s been here for five minutes and Ten is already flirting like a shameless wh–“

“If you finish that sentence, Haechan, so help me God, your mouth will be in your ass.” Ten widens his eyes to Haechan, who doesn’t seem the least bit intimidated by Ten’s threat. He mocks him under his breath, but nonetheless, moves away to bother someone else. “You’ve met Tae and Haechan. Kun is cooking and Jungwoo is sleeping.” 

“Can I introduce myself to Kun?” 

“Sure. I’ll be in my room. It’s down the hall to the left then first door on your right.” Johnny smiles as a response, walking into the kitchen.

“Hi, I’m Johnny.” He says to the blonde, Kun he figures, putting their arm into the stove. Kun turns around with an extremely bright smile, a fork in one hand and the glove on the other. 

“Oh my gosh, it’s so nice to finally meet you. I’m Kun!” The blonde was extremely cheery, almost too cheery. Johnny smiles regardless. “Sheesh, I can’t. Ten told me to be peppy but I cannot. Anyways, I’m glad to meet you.” His voice changes, which fits him more than the previous tone. 

“Me too. What are you making?”

“Nothing too serious. Some ramen, can’t be /too/ fancy but it’ll still be good.” 

“I’m sure. I’ll see you during dinner.” Johnny waves away. He directs himself to Ten’s room with the directions Ten gave him. He pushes the door open cautiously in case it was the wrong door. “Tennie?” 

“Yea?”

“Just seeing,” Johnny enters, closing the door but leaving it open a little, “if you were in here.” Ten props up onto his elbows, looking back at him with that grin of his.

“Where else would I be?” Ten laughs. “Come lay down.” He rubs the spot beside him and Johnny doesn’t waste time laying on his side, facing Ten. 

“I was worried before I came here.” Johnny breathes out. He rolls onto his back, closing his eyes. He feels Ten shuffle around before a weight Johnny can only imagine is his head settles on his stomach.

“Why?”

“I was just convinced that your friends wouldn’t like me.” 

“They like you.”

“How can you be sure?”

“They wouldn’t have any reason to dislike you.”

“Because you tell them only good things about me?” Johnny snickers, picturing Ten’s pursed smile. 

“I may or may not tell them good things, but that’s besides the point! What you need to know is that they like you.” 

“Admit that you talk about me.”

“Or what?” 

“Oh nothing,” Johnny sits up, Ten’s head lolling off his stomach, “I wonder how long we’d go without kissing.” He smirks playfully. He looks down at Ten.

“Your kisses aren’t all that great.” Ten nibbles on his lip. Johnny gives a weak chuckle, he sees right through Ten.

“You say that know but what will you be doing a week from now, complaining that you miss me.” Johnny pushes himself off the bed, stretching his arms above his head. Ten points a finger at his mouth, gagging playfully. The two laugh together after a second of silence. "Do you think Kun is done?"

"Probably. He cooks really fucking fast but it's still good so I don't complain." Ten explains as they exit, Johnny trailing behind him. As expected, Kun had been in the process of setting the table. 

Wordlessly, Johnny takes the last bowl from his arm. Ten doesn’t miss the soft blush that takes over Johnny’s ear when Kun thanks him. He takes his seat. Johnny sits next to him, focused on making sure he seemed presentable by the way he kept running his hands through his hair. “Johnny, you’re okay.” Ten moves his hand from his hair.

“Are you sure?” 

Ten held his breath when he made eye contact with Johnny. Tonight was the night, he had to do it. Would this change things? Would Ten feel better after doing this? He let go of Johnny as his hands started to feel clammy from the overbearing thoughts. He’d feel better once he stopped thinking. “Yeah. I’m .. I’m sure.” 

Johnny grins lopsidely. When he turns his attention away from him, he notices everyone is already at the table. 

“Ten, introduce your guest.” Jungwoo says, gesturing to Johnny. 

“It’s Johnny.” Ten doesn’t know how else how to introduce him. 

“Johnny can introduce himself because Ten is malfunctioning.” Haechan snickers, earning a glare from Ten and a laugh from Jungwoo. 

“Well,” Johnny starts, “I’m hungry, for starters. I like photography and coffee. As you can see, I can’t dress very well but I hope I look good enough for you guys.” 

“Did you hear that?” Taeyong asks. “Did he say that? You /can’t/ dress? I don’t wanna hear it. Look at you!”

“This was with the help of my friends.” Johnny laughs quietly. 

“I have no idea how you scored him.” Haechan groans. “He’s so .. him and you’re Ten!”

“Well, I like Ten.” Johnny butts in, grabbing Ten’s thigh under the table comfortingly. Ten tries not to tense.

“Why?” Kun asks, speaking for the first time since dinner started. His voice is soft, his face curious. 

“Because he’s just Ten. I have fun when I’m with him and I like having fun. He makes me happy.”

Taeyong and Jungwoo coo at him. Ten looks at Johnny, not missing the look in his eyes. “I do?”

“Of course you do.” 

“You know, Ten, have he ever seen you dance?” Kun stares at Ten with an unreadable expression. 

“You dance?” 

“There’s your answer.” Taeyong scoffs. “Why haven’t you told him before?”

“It just ..” Ten studies his fiddling fingers as if they’re the most interesting things, “never came up, okay? I don’t know.” 

“Your end of year performance is coming up, why don’t you invite him? You have five free tickets so why not use the one leftover?” Jungwoo suggests. Dancers in the performance could bring in five people for free, as entry was $10 for anyone else. The others had used up four and the last ticket had been left over for so long, Ten forgot he had it. He didn’t know who else to bring along. 

“Would you go?” Ten mutters. 

Johnny slides his hand over Ten’s, “You don’t have to ask. I’ll be there.” He connects their pinkies. “Promise.”

———

“How is your hair still wet?” Ten says as he dries his own with a olive green towel. Johnny rolls onto his side from his back, grinning sleepily at Ten. “You were in the shower before me!”

“You take long showers.”

“Which helps,” Ten drops his knee onto the bed before his entire body follows, mirroring Johnny, “to prove my point.” He runs his hand through said wet hair, which was mostly damp due to Ten’s pillow taking most of the moisture. 

Ten’s heart began to pound as he looked into Johnny’s eyes. He couldn’t help but feel like Johnny could hear it, but that vanished when the feeling of Johnny’s hand on his waist appeared. He bites his lip nervously, shuffling closer with a deep sigh. 

“You okay?”

“Just .. just kiss me.” And Johnny does, without a minute wasted. Ten notices his body go lax, making him aware of previously unnoticed tensions. He’s also aware of the fact that he can’t focus on Johnny kissing him, on the kiss deepening or him ending up on Johnny’s lap. He tries to think of the moment of the present rather than the disastrous aftermath he /knew/ would come. 

If he went through, he’d feel at peace with himself. But would he? Ten had been waiting for this opportunity for too long for these doubts to finally arise. He couldn’t doubt that he’d get what he’s wanted for the longest. Not now. A soft moan rips Ten’s attention from his mind to his lower half. 

He pulls from the kiss to let Johnny move onto his neck. The room was dimly lit with the moonlight shimmering through the curtains, meaning Ten had nothing to look at other than Johnny. He knew he didn’t need to see Johnny, he just needed to /feel/ him. 

As Johnny did to him, large hands going to grip Ten’s behind. With his head buried in Ten’s neck, “Is this okay?” He sounds breathless, making Ten feel similar. 

“Y–yeah.” Ten whimpers. “Johnny, everything is okay.” He says softly, but he knows it’s more for him than Johnny. 

“I just don’t want to push any boundaries.” 

“I want you to push my boundaries. Push all of them.”

And into the night, hands never left one another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i didnt wanna weite smut bc im lazy and also i dont think writin in details would be necessary so use ur imagination fellas🤠🤠


	21. sour.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its short but it doesnt count as a filler ! a lil kunten drama uhm mayhaps this doesn’t make sense but it will soon :) Ɛ>

“I did it.” Ten mutters after locking the door behind Johnny. He slumps into the couch. 

“Did what?” Taeyong furrows his eyebrows. Ten gives him a look before placing his arm over his eyes. “Oh.” 

“Did it feel good?” Kun crosses his arms.

“It did. He’s good.” 

“Don’t play with me. You know what I mean.” 

Ten opens one eye at Kun, whose calmness lets Ten know he’d be getting upset. He also knew he wasn’t going to pay much mind. “Like I said, it felt good.”

“Do you,” Kun pauses, trying to gather himself, “do you think it’s Johnny’s fault? Do you really think Johnny deserves this?”

“Someone has to pay. I don’t know why you’re trying to guilt trip me right now. Can you leave me alone?” Ten was at a crossroad with himself. Part of him felt horrible for doing this but the other part that felt he couldn’t be peaceful until it was done was too powerful. It was the him that was answering Kun. 

“I cannot believe you right now! Ten, I know you’re better than this.”

“You don’t know me as well as you think.”

“Ten..” Taeyong butts in but Kun cuts him off.

“No, he’s right. This entire time I’ve been aware– we’ve been aware of your plan to fuck Johnny up. I should’ve tried to stop you. It’s obvious to see that Johnny genuinely loves you! I /know/ you know it and if you’d pull your head out your ass, you’d admit that you love him too!” 

Ten rolls his eyes, sitting up. “I ..” He looks up and curls his hands into fists, regaining himself, “don’t love him. I .. just needed someone.”

“When will you realize that doing this won’t fix anything? It’ll make it worse. When Johnny find–“

“When he finds out? What, are you going to tell him?” 

“I won’t.” Kun chuckles. “You will.”

“No, I won’t. Are you some kind of fortune teller?”

“Guys, let’s just calm down.” Taeyong tries, standing between the two. Ten watches the oldest of them all turn to Kun, whispering inaudibly.

“It’s no use, Yong. This isn’t the Ten I grew to love. This is .. this is .. I don’t even know.” Kun side eyes Ten as if he was a sickening creature.

“You don’t love me. Leave me alone.” Ten says it before he can stop it.

Kun opens his mouth to speak but little sound comes out. He sniffles, blinking repeatedly. “I don’t love you? Ten, how could you– how could you say that? Who helped you around when you first came here? Who helped you ace all your classes when you didn’t jackshit about this country? Who guided you from all the bad people that’d put you in the same position you were in Thailand?

“It was all me! Ten, I could name so many things I’ve done for you but not even that. I did all those things because I care about you and we’ve been friends for so long and I would never do anything to damage my friendship with you! I’ve hid my feelings for so long because I always thought I could never be someone who could make you as happy as you deserve. I know I can’t take back what he did to you but I make every effort so that you can stop and think before doing it to someone else!”

“Is everything okay?” Haechan asks quietly from the doorframe of his bedroom. 

“Go back into your room, please.” Ten whispers, then turns back to Kun. 

“It’s fine, Haechan. You can do whatever you wanted to do, we’re done here.” Kun musters the kindest grin he can make, before pushing past Taeyong and grabbing his coat. Ten hurries up beside him, taking his arm.

“Where are you going?”

“None of your business.” Kun pulls his arm away, “I won’t be gone too long. Don’t wait for me.” He says more to Haechan and Taeyong. He spares one last glance at Ten before exiting. Ten takes in everything that’s happened, slowly turning to face the other two.

“That’s the most upset I’ve ever seen Kun.” Haechan mutters. “What’d you do, Ten?”

Ten sniffles, rubbing away an angry tear. “I just did.. what I had to do.”


	22. bitter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> these updates are comin in pretty fuckin slow but bear (or bare?) w me !!

It’s been nearly a week and a half and Johnny’s getting worried. Ten doesn’t usually go very long without texting or calling Johnny, and if he doesn’t do either, he shows up on Johnny’s doorstep. But it’s been almost too long without a short text, phone call, or sudden appearance, and the worry could eat Johnny alive. 

These days, he checks his phone more than he has before, hoping to see Ten’s name on his screen. He‘s only tried to get in contact with Ten twice, and a third time was out of the question because he didn’t wanna be pushy. That feeling wasn’t a good one but neither was the one of being pushed away from someone he wants to be around.

“Do you think he’s ignoring me?” Johnny mumbles woefully, twiddling his fingers then banging his head onto his arms. 

He hears shuffling, then Yukhei’s comforting hand places itself on his back. “Bro. Maybe, he’s just off the grid for little bit.” Yukhei says, but Johnny knows better. He knows Ten and that’s not like him.

“Ten doesn’t go ‘off the grid.’ He’d probably take me with him.” Johnny mutters the last part. “I kinda miss him.”

“Kinda? Johnny, you’re acting like a baby without its mother, but I get you, man. If Mark dipped without telling, I’d be in shambles.”

“I can ima–“

“You know Mark is like the cheese to my sandwich. You can’t have a sandwich without cheese, it’s not right. Just like how my life without Mark isn’t right.” Yukhei looks down to meet Johnny’s bored eyes. “Sorry! You know what?”

“What?”

“Go to his house, see if he’s there.“ 

Johnny lit up, standing to his feet excitedly. “You’re right! Kun or Taeyong might know where he is!” A sense of urgency rose in him, as he rushed to put ok shoes and grab his phone. Before he exits his room, he grabs the doorframe and looks back to Yukhei. “Do you wanna come with?”

“I’d love to,” Yukhei grins, “but when you find him, it should be a moment between just the two of you.”

——

It’s almost like Ten’s friends were as worried about him as Johnny was because only after one knock, Taeyong swung open the door. He was sporting a new look of light brown hair that came with an anxious look. He sighs softly, “Hi, Johnny.”

“Did you think I was Ten?”

“I,” Taeyong nods. “Wanna come in?”

“Sure.” Johnny slides off his shoes, scanning for any sign of Ten’s presence. Taeyog trails behind him. 

“Ten went out this morning but he hasn’t been back since. I was excited to see him come out his room but he didn’t say a word to anyone except Hyuck and Hyuck’s sworn to secrecy on what Ten told him.” Taeyong explains. 

Johnny frowns. He wonders what Ten could’ve told Haechan that he couldn’t tell Taeyong. “Do you have any idea of where he might be?”

“The dance studio for sure. I haven’t gone to check though, I wanted to give Ten space.” Taeyong rubs his arm uneasily. His lack of eye contact makes Johnny think he’s ashamed of not going to see if Ten was alright all this time. 

“I want to go see him. Can you give me the address?” Johnny says. Now that he knows where Ten is, the least he could do to calm his nerves is go check up on him. Even a glimpse of the small male would help Johnny sleep peacefully tonight. Taeyong nods, disappearing into the kitchen and coming back with a card. 

“It’s not far from here.“ Taeyong flips the card in Johnny’s hands, “I’m sure he’s hungry, here’s his usual order at the Thai restaurant he likes to eat at.”

Johnny skims over the address, trying to get a visual of where it was. He had an idea of where he’d be going, but he hadn’t the slightest clue how’d he react when he saw Ten.

——

He walked in clueless, with a carryout bag that was radiatig heat onto his reddening hand. He hurries the front desk, relieving his hand by placing the food on top of the marble.

“Hello, how can I help you?” The person at the desk looks up from their tablet. They look no older than 20, maybe even younger, and it startles Johnny a bit. He regains his focus. 

“Yeah, I’m looking for Ten, is he here?” 

The other’s face contorts to one Johnny understands as hesitation. He lifts his finger, “Uhm.” He goes to get up, but Johnny stops him.

“Please, just let me know if he’s here.” Johnny felt desperate, whiny at this point, but the closer he felt to Ten, the more impatient he got. 

“He is. Back there, last door.” Johnny nods gratefully. Before he hurries off, the boy grab his arm. “He’s pretty upset, so please. Be gentle.”

“I will.” Johnny follows his directions, standing in front of the door. He breathes in deeply, then knocks. 

There wasn’t an answer, but he knew there was someone in there by the sound of music. He presses his ear to the door, knocking again. Still, no one opens the door so Johnny uses all in him to open the door. He steps in as quietly as he can, shutting it behind him and looking around. He feels like he’s trespassing, but he walks forward, cautiously. 

Soon, Ten comes into his vision. His body is flowing around the studio, nonstop movements mixing with the movements. Johnny stood still to observe him. He knew Ten did dance, but he never knew he could dance. Ten never mentioned dancing to Johnny till that dinner, but that never bothered Johnny until now because he was so good. If Ten was such a beautiful dancer, why would he hide it from someone he knew would he here to support him?

With a clear of his throat, he throws Ten off balance. The male lands on his hands and knees, heaving heavily. Johnny places the food down and rushes to his side. “Ten?” He whispers, his words choked up. Ten doesn’t respond. “Ten.” He says louder.

“Why are you here?”

“I’ve been worried.” 

Ten sits back on his heels, “Oh.”

“Oh?” Johnny furrows his eyebrows, “That’s it?” 

“I don’t know what else to say.”

Silence lingers in the air, before Johnny shuffles bsck to the carryout. “I brought food. It’s Thai, your usual.”

“Who told you?”

“Taeyong.” Johnny answers while unboxing. He looks up to see Ten’s dreary expression.

“Oh.” 

Johnny separates the food onto two plates, and Ten wordlessly takes his. As they eat, Johnny can’t help but feel as if he’s eating with Ten’s shell, and not Ten. This Ten was silent, even though he looked like he had much to say, pale even though he was vivid and full of life, and downcast, even though he was always so high up. He reaches out to push Ten’s hair back behind his ear. 

The simple movement sends Ten into nothing but a quivering body of tears. “Ten! Baby, what’s wrong?” Johnny pushes the food aside and grabs Ten’s face in his hands, despite how damp his skin was. 

Ten continued to cry, but it was obvious he was trying not to. His efforts failed miserably. Johnny wiped under his eye, pulling the smaller into his embrace. Ten molded right into Johnny’s body, wrapping his arms around Johnny’s torso, shaking with heavy sobs. The sound made Johnny want to cry but he couldn’t.

It feels like forever before Ten pulls away with red ears, that are teary but not crying. He holds Johnny’s face in his hand, caressing his cheek. An attempt at a weak smile was made, and it made Johnny’s heart shatter even more. “Do you feel okay telling me what’s wrong?”

“I just feel.” Ten looks up, blinking away any oncoming tears. “I feel alone, and it brings me back to a dark time in my life. I feel like I’m relapsing and everything is crumbling. It feels like it’s my fault.”

“Hey. Hey, don’t say that. It’s not your fault.”

“It is, Johnny,” Ten grips Johnny’s arm tightly, avoiding eye contact. “if you knew.” 

“Then let me know.”

“I can’t.” Ten speaks, barely over a whisper. “I wanna go back to how things were before.”

“Let me help you then. Anything you need, I’m here.” Johnny doesn’t recall a time he spoke so genuinely. If there was anything he was sure about, it was this: that he wanted to protect Ten. He wanted him to know that. “Understand?” He lifts Ten’s head to meet his eyes while the smaller nods.

“I wanna have a party, would you come if I had a party?” The question rushes out, his fingers twitching between each other. The sudden topic change catches Johnny off guard but he’s quick to respond.

“Calm down, of course I’d go.”

Ten nibbles on his bottom lip, “And can I get a kiss?”

“You don’t have to ask.”


End file.
